Playing Pretend

Who remembers this VW commercial?  The boy who believes he is Darth Vader completely? And to keep his imagination going, dad "helps" the fantasy along a little?  I love this commercial to pieces because I loved to dress up, play pretend, go places in my imagination that were not possible as a child living in a Midwestern suburb in the 1980's.  Given a golden sunny afternoon, I would don the first long and flowing skirt I could find, a straw hat, throw my hair into a bun, and become my own version of a pioneer blazing a trail from Ohio to the frontier.  Or I would be an immigrant coming to the New Country for the first time.  Or simply living in a log cabin in "olden days" as I liked to call them.  Sometimes I'd steal away to one of the empty lots in our neighborhood where there was a flatbed trailer and imagine I lived near the seashore and it was my fishing vessel.  Creeks and ponds were my friends.  Woods were best pals with me.  And if the weather did not cooperate, to the basement I went.  I had all the proper tools as well-slates, a slate pencil, a Goody Reader, a rag doll, reproduction dollar bills, even pretend homemade soap (that is another post entirely!).  With parents who found historical sites to be good vacation side trips, I had gift shops at my disposal for "artifacts."  And bookshelves filled with Laura Ingalls Wilder, American Girl (Kirsten, thank you very much), a series about a pioneering family from Ohio that headed to Oregon, and a few child picture books about Colonial Williamsburg and Sturbridge Village, I felt I was the resident expert on historical accuracy. 

While my son does not hold the same fascination for pioneering life that I once did, I see the same spark of imagination growing in him.  Last night I snuck down to stand outside of his playroom to spy.  In place of my world of rag dolls and slate pencils he has a world filled with spies and superheroes.  I had sewing and cooking.  He has blast-offs and flight paths.  The older I got, the less magical the world of imagination became.  But watching him so immersed in his world is every bit as magical.  Whatever it takes to keep the magic alive for our little man, I am all in.

My anchor

I'm a lucky girl.  I have a beautiful home, a family that I adore, a job that I worked hard to get and fulfills me, and friends who make me laugh every day.  Yet, I was recently reminded just how important it is to have an anchor in our lives.  That single person who, no matter what, you lean on after your worst day, you laugh with when life descends into chaos, who calms your stormy seas.  My husband is that person to me.  I know I don't give him nearly enough credit, because he does have to put up with all of my craziness, but truly there are days when I don't know what I would do without him in my life.  I was thinking about this today as I drove into work, watching the sun rise over the March fields, listening to the Lady Antebellum song "I Run to You."  If you haven't ever heard it, take a listen.  Who is your person?  Who holds your world together when everything else feels that it is coming apart?  Give them a shout out on this Friday, then let them know how much you love them today. 

Joyful Friday

I was spending a little time this morning on BlogHer's Own Your Beauty page looking around at some of the fantastic posts, gathering a little inspiration for a rainy Friday morning, when I stumbled across this great clip from Karen Walrond & Alice Bradley. 




(as a side note, if you haven't already been to BlogHer's Own Your Beauty page, go now. It is a great place to browse, read, take the pledge, and more...I'm not kidding.  Go.) 

Anyhow, it is raining here.  After days of sunshine, the rain has returned for the weekend.  The news hasn't been great for people in my profession.  Gas prices are up.  It isn't spring yet.  People are getting a little past grumpy.  I try to be optimistic, to find joy in my days.  But sometimes it gets difficult, like this time of year when it seems the spring will never come and good news is hard to come by. 

As Alice says in this video, humor is a great coping skill, defense mechanism, and way to have fun.  Sometimes we all need to lighten up.  I know nothing makes me feel better after a bad day at work than to come home and laugh my socks off with my family.  So tonight, this weekend, or sometime soon, take a few minutes to watch something silly (Tosh.0 is a favorite of ours), run around like a nut with your kids, read some silly things online (like Finslippy-Alice Bradley's blog), or something else fun.  Just get out of your own head.  It will do you a world of good.  Happy joyful Friday everyone!