DISCLAIMER: The picture above was taken from the trenches of a nasty ass ballpit at an overpriced play place I went to recently. Luckily the balls are somewhat translucent now, and no hazmat items or bodily fluids were unearthed or observed upon brief examination of the scene. I'm still not sure if I picked up any infectious diseases, but time will tell...
It's my half birthday today, and in exactly six months time, I'll be a young at heart 37-year-old. Surprisingly, when I was a really little kid, I was fairly quiet and serious. An old soul of sorts. But I believed in magical and unknown things. I was always daydreaming and going into other realms in my mind. As a result, I spent a great deal of time indulging in solitary pursuits: reading, wandering outdoors and befriending plants and animals (squirrels, bees, even maggots 🤢), eating tree bark, and 'teaching' my painfully bored and confused dog Rusty how to read. In short, I was weird and whimsical.
I think we lose part of that magic as we age. But sometimes we are given opportunities to reclaim it. It's funny how time changes you and allows you to rediscover different, unnurtured or shut off parts of yourself. As an adult, I can safely say that one of my strengths is my ability to dive headfirst into carefree, imaginative play. It's a good thing I have kids, because I have an excuse to engage in some form of play literally every day. I'd say I'm even more playful now than when I was my son's age.
Right now, my little is heavy into lego. Sometimes I get so into building things with him that he laments on how I'm hogging it. I just enjoy the process, you know? And when we play make-believe I don't set goals or attach any expectations, it's just for the sake of self-expression and fun.
I hope I don't lose this. I hope I don't ever take myself too seriously, or become one of those parents who always says 'no' and sits scrolling their phone when being invited into their children's whimsical world. I see those parents all the time, and I know being a parent is hard and we all need breaks, but our kids only get one real shot at a childhood. We need to be present for it, so I hope I'm never too old to play with mine. I soak up opportunities to do adventurous things with my kids. I love stepping into their world. The adult world can be so monotonous and achievement-driven that I literally crave moments to step away from it from time to time. In fact, I hope to become even more present with my playfulness this year. To carve out even more time for it.
Here's to more play, childlike curiousity, and moments of wonder as we roll through 2024.
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