Time for Play

In this workaholic world, my husband and I have decided to take one evening a week to relax, connect, talk, and/or play a game of some sort.  We did this for the first time last night, and it was relaxing, refreshing, and rewarding.  As adults, I think we oftentimes forget that we need times of refreshing and play also.  Play is not just for children. 

We'd decided to do this with our grandkids a few months ago, and now we make time to see at least one of the 6 grandkids every weekend, often more, or we take the kids for several hours to give the parents some free time.  Owning his own business, Bob occasionally drops by his daughters' houses in Raleigh and sees Wilson and/or Cooper, which often is the highlight of his day and which reinforces his grandfather status with the boys.  We had Cami and Niland last Friday night for a sleepover, and Niland was so excited that while watching Wall-E, he couldn't stop talking!  I think the longest time he was quiet was about 3 minutes!  Cami finally said to him, "Niland, can you stop talking?  All you do is talk!"  Thankfully, she'd seen the movie several times also, so it was not new to her.  I took Niland to the kitchen to help me make popcorn the old-fashioned way, and when I turned on our gas stove, he kept asking, "How you get the fire in there, Nana?"  Try explaining that to a 3-year-old!  I tried, but I don't know how successful I was!  He loved watching the popcorn pop through the glass lid -- no microwave stuff at my house! 

On Halloween, we stopped by our kids' houses in Raleigh on the way home from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and saw the little guys dressed in their outfits.  Benny, who is 16 months old now, is a little guy and couldn't wear the outfit that his big brother wore 2 years ago when he was exactly the same age.  Their birthdays are July 19 and 20, two years and one day apart!  So Bernette purchased a hamburger outfit for Benny, and he was just too cute in it!  Niland is into Spiderman really big right now, so that was his outfit for Halloween.  Wilson loves firetrucks, so he was a fireman, and Cooper loves his Thomas trains and sported a conductor outfit for the event.  All of the boys had a great time with their first memorable trick-or-treating event!  The pictures above are from that day. 

Kids know how to play.  You don't have to teach them; they just KNOW!  How do we forget to do what comes naturally as children?  I love to sit on our swingset and swing beside the little boys in their toddler swings; I love to run up and down the slope with them, play ball or frisbee (can't throw it worth a hill of beans, though, and neither can they!), blow bubbles in their faces, or even sit in the kiddie pool with them during the hot summer.  I've learned that life is meant to be lived, and we have only one chance to make the most of what God gives us, so I want to keep playing until I can't play any more. 

Sometime soon, take a game out of the closet, dust it off, pull the chairs around the table, and have a family night of fun -- the dishes can wait; the dust will still be there tomorrow; the laundry can get done later -- by taking just an hour from your busy day.  It will be time well spent!