I began reading XKCD in college. At the bottom of the page are five links to some of the most popular comics. One is about a ball pit.
This comic resonated within, hitting on some basic need. The need for pure and simple pleasure. To smile for hours.
This weekend, we built a ball pit.
There are 3,250 balls in a space about 4.5 x 6' and only 1.5' deep.
Luckily we had a third bedroom that was fairly small and being used as a library. To create the space we blocked off a small section with a large black chair. We left the other furniture in place, a chaise lounge and desk.
In front of the doorway I put a folding rectangular table. Whenever I set up the ball pit again I will get a baby gate.
Once the room was ready we dumped 13 bags of balls (250 balls per bag) in the room.
A bunch of balls rolled under the chaise lounge, but otherwise they have stayed in place.
They definitely rise higher when people sit in the ball pit.
Sadly, the cat has lost his favorite afternoon nap location. I made sure to put him on the chaise lounge the first night we'd built the ball pit.
He may look fine, but a few seconds after the photo was taken he was trying to walk across the balls and freaking out because the ground (aka ball pit) was moving beneath his feet. He hasn't been tempted to enter again since.
Over the weekend my roommate and I hosted a BBQ for friends and got pictures of them falling backers into the balls.
Everyone smiled.
I love being a grown up.
Thank you Randal Munroe for the idea.
Be excellent to each other.
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