Fun

Spring Fling

Jeanna G5 Comments

My daughter had her first school dance this past Friday evening. She’s in 5th grade, but you’d think it was the high school prom, considering her preparations. An hour before we were to arrive, she tells me she needs a solid color dress in teal. Thanks for all the notice! Magically, we find what we need…on clearance! We go, she dances and has fun, I meet another cool mom. Success!

I pray all of her future dances are just as simple and fun. Oh, and that all of her dresses are on clearance.

I remember my first dance, and the many more that followed. All fun, but I never really danced… except to the slow songs with my crush du jour.

My first dance was in 6th grade. It was immediately following dismissal. We changed in the bathroom, usually swapping clothes with friends who had cooler stuff than our own. We did the “Electric Slide,” we screamed and ran around, or we sat on the bleachers with our backs to the wall. Finally, we moseyed up to our crushes in time to sway along to “Stairway to Heaven,” while thanking heaven that it was such a long song.

How great are the times when there’s nothing else to think about than what you’re doing and who you’re with.

Spontaneous Fun

Jeanna GLeave a comment

I had a dream the other night. I was in an airport and I was hanging out with Mario Lopez. He was his current age, but it was also before he became famous, because dreams are contradictory like that. We were having a conversation about what we want in life. His was to be an actor. I told him that if that was what made him happy, then he should stick with it. I think he took my message to heart. Then he asked me, “What brings you joy?” My answer was very clear as I replied, “Spontaneous Fun.” Then I realized I’d lost my phone somewhere in the airport and it was time to board my flight. My time with Mario was cut short.

I woke up thinking, “Maybe I should have had a deeper answer?” But why? Do I feel guilty for wanting fun to be a priority in my life? Should I have a more serious goal? Mario just wanted to know what brings me joy, right? And what is joy? Joy is the happiest version of happy. The biggest smile. The loudest laugh. Side stitches and weak knees. Joy is love because nothing else matters in the moment.

And so why does fun bring joy? Correction, why does spontaneous fun bring joy? I guess my life has become so planned, so routine, that fun has to be worked into the schedule. Is planned fun less joyful than spontaneous fun? My friends and I plan several gatherings throughout the year, and we have fun (maybe too much fun?), but it’s still a lot of work to get to the point of fun. So maybe that’s the key, I want more fun that requires no work, no asking the neighbor to watch the dogs, no asking my parents to watch my daughter, no packing, no saving, no lists.

When I was little, fun was never planned. Friends would show up at my door, and vice versa, and out we’d run to do whatever we felt like doing; bike ride, swim in the pond, a game of HORSE in the driveway, kickball in the field, walk to the town square for a sweet treat. Spontaneous fun seems to require a sense of freedom. Are adults less free to have fun?

Such conundrums I’m left with: I need to work for free time so that I can plan some spontaneity; I need to say No more often so that I can say Yes more often; I need to be irresponsible in order to have more guilt-free fun. Everyone has their own idea of fun. Mine involves four A’s: action, adventure, amusement, and an awakening of the senses. Now how can I create more spontaneous fun? Mario, help me name my adventure!

Lambda Omicron Lambda

Jeanna GLeave a comment

I didn’t know much about sororities before entering college, but I always assumed they weren’t for me. I had some idea that they were exclusionary on purpose and that they were for girly girls, and I was neither of those things. But as my time in college went on, I realized there were benefits to being in a sorority that I was missing out on. For one, they got to be involved in homecoming and other big events, just because they were a sorority. But the biggest thing was that they were a group of friends, and they had each other when they needed each other. So, for a number of years after college, I regretted not pledging.

But, like I usually do, I found a solution; I joined a sisterhood. We’re not an official sorority, but we have a lot of similar characteristics. I basically had to pledge and get voted in. Our “founder” reached out to me and asked if I wanted to meet up for a play date. That went well, so she introduced me to our “treasurer.” I passed that interview, so I was invited on a big trip, where I was essentially hazed for the weekend, but I survived and made the cut. There’s a core group of us, and we all rotate through positions, like social, public relations, and recruitment chairs.

Aside from the technicalities, the best similarity is that we are a group of friends who support each other. We share our ups and downs together. We travel, celebrate, and adventure together. We also cry, complain, and do nothing together. But the best thing about us is that we’re always laughing together, sometimes at each other, but usually with each other. There’s nothing we can’t turn into a joke, and that makes living this crazy life tolerable.

We’ve referred to ourselves as a tribe, posse, core, mountain bitches, lake-lovin’ ladies, winos, and hockey hoes. None of them know that I also think of our group like it’s a sorority, so maybe I’ll just surprise them with t-shirts one day. I’ll get the Greek letters Λ Ο Λ printed on them (that’s LOL in English).