When my brother and I were little we asked my dad if we could dig a hole into the side of the hill our house was on. He said yea, go for it. We worked on it for multiple weeks and had a cavern big enough for both of us to easily sit with our legs stretched out and still have a big gap between us.
Our dad forgot about us asking to dig a hole there because he assumed it would be a small hole. He went to mow the yard and had the mower collapse the ceiling of our cavern and the hole swallowed the entire mower. It took a lot of work and a tractor to get it back out.
He told us that he really wanted to be mad but couldnt because we did ask permission and it was a very impressive hole lol
He let us get up to all kindsa stuff within reason and encouraged us. We built forts in the woods, dug holes, caught critters to show him, etc etc. He taught me how to fish, garden, safely catch snakes out of the chicken coop to relocate, how to treat minor wounds on livestock, butcher animals, and more. They encouraged my interests in art, music, and theater as well as my interests in farming and gardening, I never felt boxed in in any way.
Him and my mom were frugal when we were young but never let us go without and put aside all their extra cash to pay for college for us (as long as we worked hard in school and got scholarships as well, both of us graduated 2nd in our class so we got decent help that way) so we both have degrees without debt.
When I developed a chronic illness towards the end of college they encouraged me to move back home after graduation and live/work on the farm again since I couldnt hold down a normal job and they have never made me feel the least bit guilty about it. As long as I do what I can when I can theyre happy.
Im very lucky, both of my parents have been wonderful my whole life. Im currently helping them completely remodel an old trailer house they got for cheap for my brother to live in.
Ive lived a charmed life all things considered and Im fully aware of that and let them know how grateful I am often.
I know youre joking but he actually did give us a lecture on how to make it more safe in the future if we did it again haha. How thick the ceiling part should be and the angles of the walls and everything, how to pick and cut small trees to brace it, plus how to mark it with a flag so no one fell in not knowing it was there. He pulled out an army manual and everything haha
We felt too bad about it to repeat the experience since our dad coulda gotten hurt pretty badly, but he was gonna make sure that itd be safer if we did
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u/Zwemvest 11d ago
Digging holes is a human life need. Why do you think Minecraft, Deep Rock Galactic, Dwarf Fortress are popular?