As a boy we had a large box elder tree in our back yard. We also had a shed with a lot of left-over lumber from the homes previous owner in it. One day I got ambitious and decided to build myself a tree house.
I made up a simple plan, no real measurements or anything, just a basic idea of what I was going for. Nothing fancy, just some 2x4s nailed to the trunk leading up to a platform. I thought that if this went well I might add some walls down the line.
I got to it and started building. My activities attracted the attention to some of the other kids in the neighborhood. I wasn’t a popular kid, so it took me a little by surprise that one of the coolest kids on the street came over and started helping out a little bit. It was great to have a little help, but before too long he started making suggestions about how it should be built. A simple platform simply wouldn’t do. We needed at least a few levels. No walls was out of the question. Not only did we need four walls, but we needed cut-outs for windows and a trap-door entrance to keep the riff-raff out. The planks nailed to the tree were sup-par as well. It was a spiral staircase or nothing, if the cool kids were going to hang out there.
It was a lot more work then I had bargained for. He continued to help out here and there, but less and less as time went on. I kept at it though and when it was almost finished I was impressed with what I had created. It was one of the best tree houses in town, as far as I was concerned.
I asked him to stop by to put some finishing touches on it before we called it done and showed it off to the rest of the neighborhood kids. He stopped by, sure enough. He looked it over for a second and told me that Jimmy at the end of the street had a tree house, too. I was surprised. I didn’t know Jimmy was building a tree house. He informed me that Jimmy wasn’t building a tree house. Jimmy’s rich new step-daddy bought a tree house and the hired workers were almost finished installing it. He told me he wouldn’t be caught dead in my shabby little tree-shack, that he and his friends were going to be hanging out in Jimmy’s tree house. I told him that I built it like I did because that’s the way he wanted it. That I never would have done half of what I did if he hadn’t insisted it had to be that way. I told him that the tree house was built as much for him as it was for me. He looked at me blankly and said that Jimmy’s tree house was nicer, so that’s where he was going to play.
(this is not a true story)
Yeah, James didn’t owe the Cavaliers anything, technically. No one intends to stop him from joining the Heat. It doesn’t change the fact that the owner of the Cavaliers invested a lot in making a team suited for “the King” only to have him walk away. It doesn’t change the fact that the team with the best record last year and championship hopes is now just another third-rate wannabe team. It doesn’t change the fact that Cleveland fans are disappointed and the owner feels cheated.
I made up a simple plan, no real measurements or anything, just a basic idea of what I was going for. Nothing fancy, just some 2x4s nailed to the trunk leading up to a platform. I thought that if this went well I might add some walls down the line.
I got to it and started building. My activities attracted the attention to some of the other kids in the neighborhood. I wasn’t a popular kid, so it took me a little by surprise that one of the coolest kids on the street came over and started helping out a little bit. It was great to have a little help, but before too long he started making suggestions about how it should be built. A simple platform simply wouldn’t do. We needed at least a few levels. No walls was out of the question. Not only did we need four walls, but we needed cut-outs for windows and a trap-door entrance to keep the riff-raff out. The planks nailed to the tree were sup-par as well. It was a spiral staircase or nothing, if the cool kids were going to hang out there.
It was a lot more work then I had bargained for. He continued to help out here and there, but less and less as time went on. I kept at it though and when it was almost finished I was impressed with what I had created. It was one of the best tree houses in town, as far as I was concerned.
I asked him to stop by to put some finishing touches on it before we called it done and showed it off to the rest of the neighborhood kids. He stopped by, sure enough. He looked it over for a second and told me that Jimmy at the end of the street had a tree house, too. I was surprised. I didn’t know Jimmy was building a tree house. He informed me that Jimmy wasn’t building a tree house. Jimmy’s rich new step-daddy bought a tree house and the hired workers were almost finished installing it. He told me he wouldn’t be caught dead in my shabby little tree-shack, that he and his friends were going to be hanging out in Jimmy’s tree house. I told him that I built it like I did because that’s the way he wanted it. That I never would have done half of what I did if he hadn’t insisted it had to be that way. I told him that the tree house was built as much for him as it was for me. He looked at me blankly and said that Jimmy’s tree house was nicer, so that’s where he was going to play.
(this is not a true story)
Yeah, James didn’t owe the Cavaliers anything, technically. No one intends to stop him from joining the Heat. It doesn’t change the fact that the owner of the Cavaliers invested a lot in making a team suited for “the King” only to have him walk away. It doesn’t change the fact that the team with the best record last year and championship hopes is now just another third-rate wannabe team. It doesn’t change the fact that Cleveland fans are disappointed and the owner feels cheated.
