Thursday, October 8, 2009

Playing

8:36 PM | Posted by Cheryl |


The best thing about kids is that they are transparent: What you see is what you get. When they are happy, they are HAPPY. When they are sad, they are SAD. They find joy in the simplest things. They can get lost in the reverie of play and imagination without a care in the world. In the picture above I was four and had just received this amazing green, blue, and red battery operated tin train for Christmas. My memory of that train is of how it looked as I lay on the floor and watched it go -

Vacations are when grownups get to be kids again. We leave responsibility behind as much as we can and take time for things that are not part of our daily lives. We take joy in the simplest things. We get lost in the reverie of play and imagination  The picture above was taken in Peninsula State Park in Door County Wisconsin. It was one of those perfect days, and we were free.

Eight years ago we went canoeing on the Ohio River. We were staying in one of the Ohio River Cabins, and it included a canoe! Nothing like paddling past football field sized barges that trudged along the river - very adventurous. And be sure to note the biggest kid in the famiily - sitting in the back of the canoe!

This picture is from a Yellowstone hike we did above Mammoth Hot Springs this year. Beautiful! And yes, there's a bear story to go with this picture, which is related on our vacation blog. I think we need these open spaces, this beauty, to breathe. If we go too long wthout a vacation, the air becomes thick and sluggish and longing sets in. We kid Mark sometimes because he is like the vacation canary - he is the first to notice the sluggishness of the air, and he knows we need to make a plan to go breathe somewhere beautiful and be kids again. And he's always right. I'm learning to sense this need a little better myself as I get older - and to listen to the longing for beauty.

Where to next?

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