The Man Cave
My son and I have been gathering for one month. This week as we sat in our family room it occurred to me that we need a special place to meet—a man cave! We scoped out the available spots, my daughters playhouse in the back yard, the garage, the narrow space behind the sofa in the family room! Nothing fit, so we went upstairs to continue our search. The laundry room was too narrow without natural lighting; the hall closet was just too small, each of the bedrooms was occupied with family members—no help there. We settled on a corner of the loft, the corner where the weight bench is stationed. Each wall has a window so as to allow the early morning sunlight to come in. There is an electrical outlet so I can plug in my laptop if necessary. The bench itself serves as our table while the weights remind us not to take on too much at one time. So it is, each morning as we gather we meet at our newly designated “man cave.” We have placed on the wall the attributes of a man—as we have defined them thus far. There is also a Rite of Passage flyer reminding my son of his journey. We have begun working on a map to display at a later date.
Although there remain outline issues to work out—like how to implement the second phase of our journey—most of our time is focused on deeper conversation involving building a relationship with God, or something he has seen while reading in the Old Testament book of Proverbs. I am able to relate things that I am going through with our journey. I must admit that it was a personal challenge for me to become that transparent with my 12-year old son. However, it has proven to be a very valuable time with him. He has asked some tough questions that I have been able to answer—to this point anyway!