playing

     We just spent a week playing.   Playing with our grandchildren, to be exact.   And their dog.  And our dog.  One of the most wonderful things about spending time with them is that they get us out of work habits and into play.   I can't remember a week when I played so much in the last year!   We played chess.  We played board games.  We played beach-ball. We played golf.  We watched them play on the computer, play with their "wii"  games,  and always,  times of play with the dogs.   In turn, our dog (Leo) and theirs (Maizy)  played constantly with each other, romping and wrestling until they collapsed in a heap on the floor.   It was great fun watching them play too.   

     All this playing reminded me of the importance of play for our lives as adults as well as children.   Our culture tends to be workaholic in many quarters, and its all too easy to substitute mindless TV watching or lounging for good active play.  Its an important way not to take ourselves and our work TOO seriously, and to get some perspective on our lives as a game.

      One of the things that distinguishes play is that it is fun.   And fun, I have discovered, is as much an attitude towards life as it is a particular thing one is doing "for fun."    Last week, for example, I went to a local nursery to get some plants for our deck, and was sold a plant they had never stocked before, called "dragon wing."  It was, said the lady who sold it to me, "really fun to have around."   Now I had never thought of fun in connection with having a certain plant around, and it gave me a whole new perspective on what fun might be!

      So what are some things you find fun to do?  Or might, if you just thought to look at it that way?

     Actually, this blog is fun!  For me, anyway.   Now you go have some fun!