A Day Late and a Dollar More

I'm not advocating procrastination here, but I do believe that sometimes taking a respite from  "serious" adult responsibilities, like work or grocery shopping or mowing the lawn after the kids forgot to or simply refused, makes us better people. Sometimes we just need to roll up our sleeves and play.

When I was 19, I grabbed every opportunity to go dancing with my girlfriends on the weekends. I worked in an office during school breaks and took eighteen units during the semester, though I didn't always attend class (for reasons unrelated to dancing), and always enjoyed, sometimes even more than discussing Pascale or Voltaire, bustin' a move. Which I didn't do well but did do often.

One night over Christmas break of my sophomore year, my mother told me, when my girlfriend picked me up in black boots that indicated dancing was the preferred evening activity, I would someday be a thirty six year old mother of three telling her husband to babysit for the night because she was going dancing. I smiled because thirty six was more years than I could imagine and certainly older than I thought I would ever be, and I laughed because I knew my mother was right. Why would I ever give up dancing? Why deprive my aging self of something that brings me so much joy?

I still love to dance, although I can rarely convince anyone to venture out with me. (Thank God for the one friend who'll brave the evening cold and endure the embarrassing moment when the twenty-something guy checking IDs realizes how old we are.) I also dance in the locker room at the gym -- no one needs to accompany me to that --  and sometimes, though I attempt to keep this in check, in the aisles of the grocery store while my children pretend their mother is the poised lady checking prices on her phone.

So I’m not particularly poised in Safeway. At least I can execute a decent pirouette between rows of green beans and stacks of Campbell’s soup.

The other day, I asked a diverse group of hip moms what they do for play.  Their responses ranged from anything involving wine to make mine vodka. :)  Also included were slightly more practical choices like run barefoot on the grass, ride carousels and swings, play Just Dance in my living room, participate in any outdoor activity -- this includes shopping --  and skinny dip in the ocean. (That last one is mine.) Taking the time to play, whether in the mountains or on an actual playground or at a cocktail party which, let's be honest, is just an adults’ playground, brings happiness and makes us more engaged with our lives. Who wants to spend all of their time reaching quotas or contacting clients or raking the leaves?

I’ve decided that play is not a four letter word. I think of it instead as a three letter word like joy or a five letter word like smile. Taking the time to play in whatever capacity will make us richer. We may be late, but we’ll never be a dollar short.

Taking a break from singing in the car.