As a kid, fun was always spontaneous. Kids walk into a room, see other kids, and they become fast friends. Then they’re off playing make-believe and having a blast. Most of my childhood was spent playing outdoors. My friend and I would start a game of kickball or HORSE, and kids would just come and go and join in when they wanted. Play was free.
Nowadays, I still play, but if I want to play with my friends, it has to be planned. We usually have to book a reservation, put it on our calendars, hire a babysitter (unless the activity is kid-friendly), think about carpooling, and there’s almost always a fee just to participate. There’s a red wine I enjoy, and its cork reads, “Plan some spontaneity.” That cracks me up! But that’s what play has become as an adult; organized fun.
But thankfully, there’s a whole market out there for entertaining adults (I’m referring to the G-rated market!). My friends and I booked reservations to complete a treetop ropes course, escape a room, a zip line adventure through the Appalachians, and pottery painting at a local studio. This past Friday we booked an hour of axe throwing. It was so fun! Now I’m trying to talk my friends into doing one of those ‘drink wine and everybody paint the same thing’ events.
No, fun isn’t as free and spontaneous as it used to be, but it’s good to know that there are people out there who love to play, and are creating opportunities for you to join in the fun. This past year of stay-at-home orders, quarantining, and social distancing has not made fun easy, but don’t get stuck in a boring routine of sitting in front of your television. Free yourself from the confines of a boring adulthood! Do a search, call some friends, and plan some organized fun!
What’s an activity you loved to participate in as a kid? Can you plan to do it with some friends?
It’s Marci Gras! I did my part to make sure Fat Tuesday lived up to its name by making and eating an absurd amount of gumbo and cornbread. I’ve never been to the Mardi Gras festival, but I have been to New Orleans, and our hotel was right on Bourbon Street, and we visited the Mardi Gras museum to see the floats. I was also traveling with my 7-year-old at the time, so I had to be somewhat prudent. Anyhow, I was watching the news this morning about New Orleans and how there is no parade because of Covid, but houses and yards are decorated to the nines. One interviewee said, “The parade may be cancelled, but the spirit of Marci Gras cannot!” And that is when I got teary-eyed.
I don’t know about you, but I hope post-Covid celebrations rush in like someone opened the floodgates. Potential memories are being stolen from us. Sweet memories of passing out cupcakes on your birthday or Valentines to your classmates were erased like a chalkboard this past year. Dancing like nobody’s watching on a crowded amphitheater lawn is only a hallucination. Singing the school fight song with 109,000 other fans in the university stadium must have been a figment of my imagination. Hugging and holding hands? Only in our wildest dreams. Festivals, reunions, and play dates are all fictional chapters of our now boring lives. Gosh, I even fantasize about struggling to get the bartender’s attention during happy hour!
I hope when we become a herd again, we become immune to boredom. I hope we flock together and have a parade. A day of parades all over the world with singing and dancing, and everyone has a seat together at the grandstand with a perfect view of the spectacle. But the timing of these Mardi Gras celebrations will be reversed, because we’ve been abstaining for too long, as if we’d given up togetherness for lent. It’s time for the spirit of Mardi Gras that has been hibernating in our hearts to wake up, take a real good stretch, and let the good times roll!
Back in May I made a promise to my daughter that I would bring camp to her since her summer camp had been cancelled. It took some time to plan and prep, but this is what we did:
The week that she was registered to attend had the theme of “Christmas in July,” so while she was sleeping I strung colored lights along the ceiling of her bedroom, hung a gift-filled stocking on her closet door, and sprinkled individually wrapped candies across her furnishings. In the morning, I did rouse her with reveille, but then a Christmas playlist jingled its way into the room. We sang along as she opened her stocking that was filled with gimp and dollar store trinkets.
She was so excited to get the day started, and filled with candy, so we skipped breakfast and went straight into her first activity: baking. She said brownies and cupcakes were always offered at camp as desserts, so she helped me make both.
Next came one of my favorite camp activities: leather working. We moistened leather strap bracelets, stamped them with designs, then stained and sheened them.
Considering the theme, I wanted to include a Christmas craft, so we made waterless snow globes. I bought my first glue gun for this craft, so I feel like a full fledged member of the crafting world now. We glued small foam squares into the screw-on lids of glass jars to serve as pedestals for the figurines. Then we glued small snow-covered evergreens and snowmen to the foam. (The remaining trees will be perfect for the train set that we plan to build together!) We poured fake snow and Christmas colored glitter into the jars, and then inverted the lids, screwed them on, shook them up, and voilà!
Chinese food was one of her favorite lunches from camp, so we ordered carry-out before continuing on with our craft activities. To the tune of the Addam’s Family theme song we prayed:
“We’ve filled our bowls and dishes – with food that is delicious – you’ve granted all our wishes – God thank you very much!”
After lunch we had a siesta, which was a part of my summer camp experience. Campers would write letters home or read while the counselors geared up for the evening programs. As mom/counselor, I just needed to rest my eyes for a bit.
The next craft was a continuation of something we had started during stay-at-home orders. As I’d mentioned in my post titled “Expanding Time,” my daughter and I went on many springtime strolls and had plenty of time to stop and smell the flowers. We collected and pressed small blossoms that we spotted along the way. I did the same with petals from the Mother’s Day carnations she gifted me. Our craft was to arrange the pressings into small frames. We are both very happy with the results, and they help to shine a light of gratitude on our memories of this pandemic.
Next came wood burning. I bought small pieces of wood for a dollar from Michael’s that are very easy to burn designs into.
Our final activity was making friendship bracelets with embroidery thread and key chains with gimp while watching Elf.
Dinner was unique, to say the least. She had described a spaghetti burrito that I was not so sure about, but she devoured what we made! “ABCDEFG – Thank you God for feeding me!” was the blessing.
Flour tortilla wrapped around spaghetti mixed with butter, sour cream, & shredded cheese.
I have more planned, but some of the activities require the participation of my friend’s children. We were going to run the games at our annual lake trip, but it was hard to compete with the activities that were already available to us: paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming, and floating. We’ve decided to host a day of camp one weekend soon, which I’ll be sure to post as Part 3.
Even though we didn’t play the games at the lake, we were still able to add in the sweetness of S’mores around a campfire and spend some time stargazing. No meteor showers, but we did see a shooting star and were able to locate the comet Neowise! It’s not the best photo, but it’s good enough.
Neowise!
So it wasn’t a week away with a cabin full of bunk mates, but she seems to be a happy camper, nonetheless.
What activities would you plan for a camp-at-home experience?
Juvenescent Junkets 