Lullabugs
Lullabugs
“But
Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come
to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as
these.”
Luke 18:16
Christopher
turns ten this week, and as a gift for him I promised I would write about his
favorites - Lullabugs. Writing about Lullabugs should be easy because I hear
about them every day in multiple ways. Stories of Lullabugs abound with him.
The stuffed animals in the photo above are representative of the population of
Lullabugs, they come in many frog-like shapes and sizes, sometimes carrying
blankets with them, sometimes existing in pillow forms. I asked him if he
thought he should do the writing and he said, no. He’d just consult and edit.
He wanted this written from my perspective on the Lullabugs. From my
perspective, it seems as though his Lullabugtown
(which is the name of the Lullabug world), and what I consider the “real world”
has an extremely fuzzy boundary. His Lullabugtown
is constantly merging and taking on features and forms of the “real world.”
This for me is a great challenge as I think I am getting things done in the
“real world,” and I am hearing a steady side narration of how this all would be
going on either the same or differently in the country of Lullabugtown.
You
see, Lullabugs live in an ideal world and are expert engineers who design
everything perfectly. They have 10 named islands and a mainland in the country
of Lullabugtown. Now, while the name
includes the word “town,” it is in fact a country (named after its first
settlement) made up of these islands and mainland, and divided into 21
different states. Each state has its own capital, and each state has its own
interesting geographical features such as mountains, forests, or beaches. In
several of the capitals, and in some of the smaller cities they have chains of
resort hotels - Softeyton Bay &
Softeyton Bay Express, Lullabug Hotel Group, Sir Martin & Sir Martin
Express. The Lullabugs have cruise ships that are also run by the Lullabug Hotel Group, the largest ship
of the group is the LTX
Frontage (the crossed out, underlined
letters indicate the civilian nature of this ship, because the Lullabug
military also owns ships and labels them LTX). Ready access to the Lullabug world can
be found through flights provided by their exceptionally efficient airline
companies – Bunnies by the Bay Airlines,
Likely Blue Airlines, Aquence Airlines (which also operates Pony Express),
Brick Airlines, or Water Bay
Airlines. All of the airlines use either Yoto or Baskin airplanes,
which are built by the companies of the same names. The Western & Eastern Line serves as the main train provider for
the country, however many cities have their own local trains to minimize
traffic congestion. Lullabugs drive only solar powered cars, ride buses, or
bike. Bike lanes in Lullabugtown are
engineered as a step up from the main roadway, between the road and the higher
step of the sidewalk. The tallest building in the country of Lullabugtown is “The Pine Tree,” located exactly on the border between the states of
Capital and Trallis. Half of this immense building sits on the edge of the city
of Oldeyton, Capital, and the other
half in Trallis City, Trallis.
Three-quarters of Lullabugs are Catholic and their biggest church is St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral.
Three-sixteenths of the population practice a local religion called Yen-Saun they worship in a pwyzong, and all other faiths are
represented in the last sixteenth of the population. Quite a few chain
restaurants have been developed throughout Lullabugtown.
If you had an interest in hamburgers you would go to Davie’s or Softey &
Oldey’s Burgers, if you like seafood you should go to a Fish on the Cob. For those of us (like
me) who enjoy coffee the place to go is
Mangers’ Coffee. If you happen to be staying at a Lullabug Hotel Group Hotel the Wara
Restaurant is most recommendable. However, any Lullabugtown hotel restaurants are typically excellent.
Flurries
of papers appear around our home with detailed cartographic images of islands,
states, and cities; engineering style designs of planes, ships, trains, bikes,
and automobiles; and schematics for buildings, air routes, electronic systems,
computers, and cell phones. Every blanket, box, pillow, and sheet in our home
has likely been involved in a temporary imagineered construction of Lullabugtown’s various infrastructure
and transportation details. Design and construction of Lullabugtown has been occurring since approximately 2009.
Dear
Lord, thank you for our wonderful son who brings into our lives such a vivid
and detailed world of his own, that it sometimes makes me wonder if he has
actual schematics for the Kingdom of God hiding somewhere within too. I believe
he does. I believe we each do. Heaven help us each bring those schematics to
life through hearts and minds filled with loving creativity and joy for our own
imaginative play. Amen.
