Playing in the Sand

If you could open up your childhood closet and try on all of your hats again, would you? Would you wear your ballerina hat just a little bit longer? How about your Train Conductor Hat? Maybe your Firefighter hat or your Bride hat is still in the closet somewhere? Maybe we could march around the living room together wearing our crowns and grasping our shields preparing to defeat the mighty china closet that looms over the village and then ride off into the sunset on the arm of the couch!

I’ve been a little stressed out lately! I’ve just recently started taking over the bills, I’m trying to come up with a way to make some extra money for my family and I’m dealing with a lot of “extended family” issues. Our baseball schedule is driving me crazy and I have a teenage daughter (‘nuff said). I’m tired, I’m overweight, I want to go shopping and I want to eat a lot of fried food and drink a large martini at a restaurant that cleans up my mess for a change!

Then I saw something…

…We were at a baseball game the other day and I was watching my best friend’s four-year-old son playing in the sand. It was the most precious thing! He was zooming around in his own little construction zone with all of his vehicles. He was making truck noises and using his imagination so idyllically and no one could permeate his perfect little world that he’d made in the sand, just for himself.

Then, of course, I got to thinking; why don’t adults act this way more often? Sure, we as adults can drink our stress away and sometimes spend a pretty penny to massage our stress into a short-lived oblivion but why can’t it be as simple as children make it seem? Why can’t we just pull out a few matchbox cars, take our shoes and socks off, sit in the dirt and play? Without a care in the world; without regrets and without a care or a thought of what tomorrow will bring. Just, simply, playing!

This is my goal; if not for the rest of my life, then just for today. I’m going to take my shoes off and play in the sand…will you join me?