Frolic Like My Dad

This is my dad donning night vision goggles that my little brother had just received for Christmas 2008. My dad has a gift for play. As a kid, I remember him reading to my sister and I in voices fitting to the book characters, taking us to play mini-golf, swimming with us, teaching me canoeing techniques, and making me laugh, even turning the sound of words into an inside joke, such as lingering on the "ee" sound in between every time it came up in our conversations.

This past Christmas, he was to be found playing cowboys and robbers with his grandsons on an child-centered Old West playground. My younger brother, brother-in-laws, and my dad played on the monkey bars and rode the see-saw together, and upon seeing these four men playing, ages 17, 26, 34, and 56, a woman stopped to ask laughing, "Did you come here to play or come here with your own kids?" My question is, Why would those two things be mutually exclusive?

At that same park, my dad rode a small steam engine train with me (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and explained the model train sizes to me in the display train depot. Back at the house, he helped his grandsons throw pomelos into the jacuzzi.

When you adopt a life of play, it does not mean you do nothing responsible or act immature. My dad is a hard worker and has provided for a large family for dozens of years. I never felt like he was a workaholic or a goof-off lazy bum. He worked hard, knew when to stop, and either made everyday activities fun, or played hard.

I have adopted his work and play ethic. I like to work and strive to do my best with a good attitude even if I am only stuffing envelopes all day, but I endeavor to make time to play. The key is to be aware of those simple moments in life that we can glide right through in our normal "starchy grown-up", weary way, and recognize that you have another option. There is a "playful grown-up" option that infuses energy and joy into your own life and connects you with others.

It can be as simple as choosing to balance on the edge rim of a sidewalk as you walk along instead of staying on the large squares or doing an impromptu pirouette while standing alone near the elevator at work. It might mean, instead of "mmhhmmming" your boyfriend, spouse, or child as they tell you a seemingly boring anecdote or thought, to choose looking into their eyes with a smile or interested expression. For me, it often means instead of only making a trip to the grocery store and back home, to make a point of stopping at the beautiful city park or library for a few minutes in the same trip, making every other Friday "buy gummy worms and watch a movie" night, or dancing through the halls at church when I could just as easily walk down them as the 28 year old woman that I am. Normally these antics delight or bemuse my friends or put me in contact with new people, or at least serve to make my daily routine a bit more of a novelty. Speaking from experience growing up with the father that I have, adopting a "playful grown up" life keeps you young in Spirit and enriches the lives of the people around you.