Dad's A-Z: D is for Dirt

Got Dirt?

If it wasn't for dirt, Lukas may never have been born.

Allow me to explain.  It been16 years ago now - can I just pause here to say "Wow, how can it be 16 years already"? - when I was shooting pool at an Olympia, WA tavern after a long day of working on my farm (Yes, I used to be a farmer - The thing about the long hours: Not an exaggeration).   Well, I was about to put a dollar in the Jukebox when a very attractive barkeep pressed in front of me and said something to the effect of "It's time I played some real music!" before inserting a coin into the machine.

I might have audibly groaned at the time.  You see, I was convinced that she was about to choose a Country song.  And I wasn't a big Country music fan at the time.  But like I said, she was pretty, so I didn't press the issue. 

Then, when the music started, she just turned and gave me a smile.  She had a gorgeous smile. Scratch that, she HAS a gorgeous smile.

By saying if it wasn't for Dirt, I mean, of course,  the epic album titled Dirt by Seattle Rock legends Alice in Chains. The song  Mrs. LIAYF selected that  night was Rooster, off of that album Dirt.  I still can't hear it without thinking fondly of that fateful night.  Our first date was a week later.

So yes, if it wasn't for Dirt, Lukas may have never been born.  But I'd like to think it would have happened anyway.  I would have thought she was a knockout even if she had played Allan Jackson or George Straight.

But could this be the reason why Lukas is now so enamored with dirt?  Specifically piles of dirt?  The aforementioned Mrs. LIAYF and I recently bought him a brand new shovel of his own.  A real shovel (kid sized) with a sturdy metal spade.  We did this because he loves to dig so much.  In the DIRT, of course.

I might have lamented the Big Dirt Pile that hung around our place too long, but Lukas loved it.

In fact just last weekend he was a huge help as we planted out vegetable and herb boxes.  His was the herb box, and before we planted there he spent quite a while digging through the dirt in search of worms.  This brought back fond memories for me of digging worms as a kid, to use while fishing for trout down on the farm.  Lukas is just about the age where a fishing trip would be in order too so this dirt digging was good practice for him.

He found loads of worms too.  It was great watching him pick them up, name them, and deposit them in a corner of the box he declared was 'Worm City'.  If I remember correctly there was Dug, and Brandon (his best friend at pre-k), and Squirmy, and Squirmy 2, and Squirmy 3 among others.  The Squirmy brothers were especially active too, thus the name.  I have a theory that this is due to all the caffeine in the Seattle soil.  His box was probably the equivalent of a quad shot Mocha for those worms.

Then again, he may just like dirt because he is a 4 year old boy.  I would imagine dirt is not too far down the list from Lego's on most boys favorite toys list. Come to think of it, I had a pretty good time playing in the dirt myself.  Maybe it never gets old.

It's unfortunate that Dirt gets a bad rap most of the time, but around here we dig it quite a bit.

How about you readers?  Do your kids like to play in the brown stuff?