Quil's Postcards: Lava Park Adventure

How Friends Can Make You Brave:

QUIL IS BACK! This time we get to see what an amusement park looks like in outer space. Now here is my confession: I am TOTALLY vicariously living through Quil in these stories. This is pure fun and fantasy for my inner child. I ALWAYS wanted to go to a theme park as a kid. So now I get to go to one on another planet! I also really enjoy getting to spend some time and getting to know a character across multiple stories. In this installment, Quil has a birthday party at a Lava Park.  Our space friend is at a very special age, (7 Earth years), where friendship is MAGICAL!  

     I love that time in a child’s life when they are too young to care about romance or even the concept of popularity. They just love their friends. I had a few really special friends in my childhood. I remember spending several nights in a row at each other's houses. We wanted to do everything together, like tee-ball, summer camp, and birthday parties! I miss those kinds of relationships now. Adults don’t really do the slumber party thing anymore. At least not on a regular basis. So it has been really fun as a writer to revisit those kinds of childhood friendships in the Quil stories.

     Quil has some really special friends named Bula and Nova. They are inspired by two of my friends from childhood who were: A.) Really daring, B.) Really good at sports and C.) really supportive and patient with me even though I was neither A or B, but instead, was D.) a TOTAL WHIMP!!! Bula and Nova have that same kind of friendship with Quil.  I especially like that they motivate Quil to try new things, like going down a LAVA SLIDE!!! I can't wait to see what adventure little space buddies will have next!!! Friends are outta this world!

Thank YOU for being a friend!

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Fun Links:

Some Advice about Friendship

Another Cool Space Podcast

Magic & Merry Toyland

How a Childhood Toy Can Awaken Optimism:

TOYS... There is nothing quite like a child playing with a toy they love. A good toy can ignite the imagination and keep a child busy for hours. For me, it was my childhood dollhouse. You see, my folks worked hard to give us a comfortable life. We had everything we needed, but we didn’t grow up with a lot of “extras.” Those coveted trendy toys like “Power Wheels” or “American Girl Dolls” were outside of our budget. But there was one Christmas morning I woke up and felt like I hit the toy “jackpot.”

     I was five years old and I just loved playing with my dolls. My folks and my Nana conspired to make me something really special for Christmas . . . a handmade dollhouse! For months they would put my brother and I to bed then work downstairs on this project, like elves in Santa’s workshop. My father is a carpenter and he built the house and painted it the same colors as our real house. My mum decorated the house with wallpaper swatches from a catalog and free carpet samples. My dad made little dollhouse furniture out of reject wood scraps from the woodturning mill in our town. And my Nana put all of the finishing touches on the house by sewing the bedding & the other linens. They later told me how much fun they had putting this dollhouse together.

     When I woke up that Christmas morning I was overwhelmed with joy. To this day, this is my “dream house.” It was made with so much love by the people I love. It was a toy that kept me entertained for hours upon hours and made me believe in magical possibilities.

Christmas Morning with my handmade dollhouse!

 

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Fun Links:

Toys You Can Make! (Including a Dollhouse)

“March of the Toys” from Babes in Toyland