The Importance of Play

At work I do a "Monday Memo".  In it I post important information for the staff, but I also always have a quote from Mister Rogers.  This week it was "Play does seem to open up another part of the mind that is always there, but that, since childhood, may have become closed off and hard to reach.  When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit.  We're helping ourselves stay in touch with that spirit too.  It's the tings we play with and the people who help us play that makes a great difference in our lives."  It's hanging in the bathroom and I've been reading it everyday....thinking about it.

I've spent my life working with kids....I've always felt like I've embraced my inner child.  But if I were to be honest with myself, I don't think I have.  I've never really gotten down on their level and really embraced what being a child is.  I've said the right words....I've interacted in a somewhat clinical way, narrating what I've seen them doing....teaching them the skills required to be successful in life....I've given them opportunities to explore, to problem solve.....but it's always been at a distance...even with my niece and nephew, not really embracing my inner child, not being a kid with them, exploring with them, problem solving with them, really enjoying their childhood with them.

What I have noticed with the love that my sweet husband gives me, I'm able to, for the first time in my life, be like a kid....not in an immature, rude, spoiled way....but in a way that embraces the world around me....in a way that I find joy in being in my garden, getting my toes dirty, or playing with the dogs, or enjoying the children in my life in a way I never have before.

I think that is the beauty of my salt water sandals.....I had them as a kid....but certainly not shiny purple ones....that would be a little frivilous.....and the excitement of waiting for something that you order....and the power you feel when you can wear them anywhere....like summer muckalucks.  I was so excited when I woke up the first morning, I felt like a kid, it was actually what got me up in the morning, and I said it out loud.

I went to see a healer a couple years ago for migraines....she told me to imagine myself at an age before pain.  I visualized this photo of me when I think I was 5 years old, I'm in a yellow tutu and am standing with my hands on my hips.  I'm looking straight at the camera next to the slide in our backyard, I look invincible, I look proud of whatever I did....I love that picture.  Being loved unconditionally by my husband makes me feel that way....I am invincible, I am powerful, I am beautiful, I could pull off a yellow tutu if I really needed to.

I find that because of his belief in me, I am more creative, I'm kinder, I'm calmer, I am that little girl in her yellow tutu who could do anything I set my mind to.  And so I sport my Shiny Purple Saltwater Sandals even when they don't go with my clothes, because I am Gordon's wife, he is my champion (and I'm his), he believes I am beautiful, he believes there is nothing I cannot do.  Keep your eyes peeled for what is next in the Stewart Saga....I know it will be epic....even if it's a trip to the zoo....it's our trip to the zoo and we are cherishing the moment together, because we are powerful and strong and talented and amazing, because we love each other and believe in each other....and for that I am grateful to a little kid from Arlington who saw the beauty in a frizzy haired over weight insecure woman who didn't know she needed a hero....but she found one.