Last Saturday I was stuck at home with my kids. My wife was at a church conference, and our youngest daughter was quite sick, so going out wasn’t an option. She wanted to watch Magic School Bus, so that’s what we did. Or rather, that’s what they did. I don’t care for Magic School Bus.

I was looking for something to do. I tried to find something substantive on Youtube, and I kind of succeeded. I watched a couple of Ted Talks but finished in 20 minutes, and then I was back where I started. So I searched for books on Amazon and on the Kindle App. I found one I was really interested in, but it wasn’t available in eBook format. And then my search ran dry. I ended up filling the time by dismantling junk in our back yard.

We collect junk. It doesn’t look like junk when we first acquire it, but shortly after it takes up residence in our yard we lose interest in it and it becomes junk. And some of it’s too big to put straight into the trash can, so I decomposed a couple of these junk things and threw some of the pieces away.

In a perfect world I wouldn’t have a back yard where junk multiplied. But back yards and junk and decreased freedom just come naturally when you’re raising small children. I love my children. And I don’t have to feel trapped when I need to stay home with them. But sometimes it’s hard not to feel trapped. Sometimes I feel trapped.