Are You Having Fun?
Perhaps because I am having so much fun being with my loved ones in Florida, I think about all of the fun that can be found in life. Sometimes it comes to us as a surprise, but we can look for it as well.
It was fun to ride to the airport with my youngest son, Matt whose sense of humor always brightens my days. I enjoyed the plane trip down, and it was fun to be met by my oldest son, Wes who also has a great sense of humor. The warm welcome by my daughter-in-love, Deb, confirmed that this would be a wonderful visit. It is always fun to be with them and also to spend time with my granddaughter, Claire, her husband, Shaheed and my great grandchildren – Malik who is eleven and Leila who is nine. A rare treat is for Wes, Deb and me to have lunch with Leila and her friends at school.
Ever since Wes and Deb took me to Savanna during my last visit, I have looked forward to going again. When they told me we had reservations at a bed and breakfast there for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I thought that was my Mother’s Day gift but on Sunday, Wes took me to Mass and afterward they gave me my card. Inside was the agenda for a writer’s workshop the next weekend in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida! Called The Storytellers’ Summit, it has several noted authors and a variety of sessions to choose from. Wes and I even had fun discussing and planning which sessions to attend. While in Savanna, I had a different kind of fun when Deb helped me rub some really old gravestones and get some decorations and quaint epitaphs.
My visits here always include lunches and dinners with friends and Saturday night parties are lots of fun. You do not have to be on vacation to have fun. There are so many things right in our own backyard – we merely need to be open to opportunities to have fun. Each morning, as we stretch and greet a new day, we can muse on what we might enjoy doing. Many of us have a variety of activities that we routinely do. Some of us enjoy going to Mass and singing in the choir, some enjoy the Senior Centers and what they offer. Some of us belong to book clubs; some play cards weekly and have fun just discussing what is going on locally. Some of my friends enjoy the European tours offered by Holy Angels from time to time. Many of my friends enjoy travelling and gambling trips. The couple who have made it possible for me to be in Tetelestai by doing the driving have been in the cast from the very beginning – 32 years! Their granddaughter who is 13 has been in it nine years! They and some of their children but especially this granddaughter have been roller coaster fans for years and have traveled all over the U.S. to spend vacations riding roller coasters. Although they are in their seventies and Tom has had back surgery, they plan to ride the coasters with Tori this summer! You know of the delight that I find in being a part of the cast of Tetelestai and an elf on the Polar Express. It is fun for me to write for the Spirit. Since I love kids and have a love affair with words, working with the youngsters at Kumon is really fun for me. During the summer, I plan whole days of fun with my sister, Cheryl and my daughter-in-law, Tina as we make a loop through Middlefield. We might start at the Amish salvage store, go to the Store at the Commons in Mesopotamia, stop at the Cheese Factory on 87, stop at an Amish bakery, get eggs at an Amish farm, or we can start at the Whitehouse Chocolates in Burton and then do some of the other things. We have toured a tiny cemetery in Mespo that my neighbor Marilyn introduced to me. It has some grave stones that were carved by a sculptor after the Civil War – his has a bear cub climbing over the top of an obelisk. I have taken iced tea or water in bottles and we have purchased sandwiches at the cheese factory and on our way home stopped in a park and had a mini picnic. Most recently, we ate at Rosepoint Cottage, a lovely tea room in Chardon, and we celebrated Tina’s birthday. We have been to the Middlefield flea market, and during the summer always get a supply of fresh vegetables, berries and fruit at various farms.
We all have different ideas of what fun is. Even work can be fun if it makes us happy and makes us sing. How long has it been since you sang or whistled? I never hear anyone whistling a happy tune any more.
People who make a habit of having fun are fun to be around. My mother had a voracious appetite for having fun. Wherever she went, she attracted people because she was having so much fun. At parties, groups would always form around her as she regaled them with stories of funny people she had met or funny adventures she’d had. You could always hear laughter floating from her area. She never learned to drive, but her joy was so infectious she was never at a loss for a ride because she made it fun just to be with her.
Do you have a To Do list and if so, is FUN a priority on it? Is it something you see as a perk or unexpected reward or as a normal part of living? We need fun and it helps to think about that. Having fun will be a buffer when tough times hit; it is the sugar that helps the medicine go down.
Take a few minutes to be quiet and ask yourself – what does fun mean to me? What do I really like to do? When you hear of an activity that sounds interesting, make a note of it and check it out. I used to think that life just happened to me and I reacted, but I learned that I create my life. I used to wait for fun to come knocking on my door, but now I actively pursue it. Time waits for no one. I just read of a 90 year old woman who received her Master’s degree and plans to teach at a college. She started college in her 80’s! This was fun for her and she was not discouraged by her age. What’s stopping you?
If you are not having fun, it’s time to start by planning a fun filled summer!