"It is a happy talent to know how to play."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm a busy mom and like so many busy moms a great deal of my time is spent driving from one place to the next. This week was no exception and on one particular evening I had overlapping appointments. I had to pick up my oldest from wrestling, take my younger son to football practice and I had a nail appointment. Under normal circumstances I would not take any of my kids with me to a nail appointment, but on this day I was doing my best to make it all work. I do not have a lot of "me time" but my nail appointment is typically a time reserved for just that. I get to untether from the responsibilities of life and do a little pampering.
On this hurried evening, I had dashed over to the high school at which I picked up my oldest from his wrestling practice where upon he joined me, my younger son and daughter. I shuttled us from there to the recreational complex where my younger son was to attend his flag football practice. It was about 45 minutes early but I explained I needed to get myself to an appointment and so I dropped off my boys and advised them that I would return to pick them up when my appointment concluded. From there my daughter and I departed and sped off to the nail salon.
My daughter is a beautiful little being with Down syndrome. I was comfortable leaving the boys at the complex but not with the added responsibility of watching over my daughter. Despite coveting a bit of "me time", on this occasion, I needed to have her in tow. She is not at all a burden. Generally speaking, she is a relatively an easy child. She and my younger son are twelve year old twins. While my son is now focusing on sports and developing his competitive skills, my daughter remains a soul content with living in imaginary spaces filled with magic and giggles. I provided her with a strawberry-banana frappe and grabbed a drawing tablet for her to distract herself while I had my nails done. The salon provided a corner for her to relax in, and then I settled into my spot to have my nails attended to. That is when the light that she shines began to fill the entire salon.
She still knows how to play. I have observed that as individuals we tend to outgrow our playful natures. As adults we tend to view playfulness as immature, irresponsible, a trait that people who do not "take life seriously" demonstrate. But I beg to ask the question, why is it better to take life seriously? My daughter did not sit in her corner and quietly draw with the intent to disappear from the room of women. Instead, she greeted each woman in the room and welcomed each new comer, bringing smiles to the faces of everyone. As she sat and drew on her tablet, she giggled at the emerging images and the women in the room giggled too. She moved her body to the music flowing into the room, and she sang along softly if she knew the words. She played at what she was doing. She found joy in what she was doing and as a result brought that joy into the lives around her. She was doing exactly what she was asked to do, but she did it in a way that embraced it from a place of play.
I am aware that my daughter did not make a conscientious effort to do this. I also understand that what I am proposing is we make a conscientious effort to do life with an attitude of play. I do think it is a worthy goal, and at the very minimum, it is worthy of finding times to express our playful nature. We do not have to make it hard and we can take small steps to incorporate more play into our lives. Dance in your kitchen while you are making dinner. Sing in your car. Giggle out loud when something makes you happy. Just, play.
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