Playing With Building Blocks

From childhood to adulthood

Image by author.

Sometimes your childhood dreams do not come true. Some of you may have dreamed of becoming a nurse or a firefighter and played pretend games based on those interests. Did your dreams become reality?

I wanted to become an architect. I built rudimentary structures out of wooden blocks. They were big and chunky, which limited the design possibilities. Lego had not reached a global market in those days, so my designs lacked the details and finesse that are possible with modern-day interlocking building blocks.

As I grew older, I began drawing houses and buildings, eventually moving on to making structures out of cardboard and assorted found materials. Then, the cruel hand of reality slapped me in the face. I realized that I lacked the mathematical skills necessary to become an architect. Dyslexia can be cruel.

The dream was over.

My interest did not fade, and late in life, I worked for an architectural model-building company, where I was able to taste a morsel of my childhood dream. That was as close as I got.

These days, I still look at buildings with interest and often photograph them. So I recently decided to build structures with digital building blocks. I mixed my own images with historical illustrations to add a…