Playtime

I couldn’t do anything right for my curmudgeonny 80+ year old patient this week. He had been my patient during an earlier stay a few weeks back. Couldn’t do anything right for him either visit. He was a grumpy man. Really grumpy but I found him endearing in a funny sort of way. I like a good challenge and after a few nights together I think he might even have liked me – not that he would have ever admitted it. 

I don’t want to get grumpy as I age. I have my moments now but I like to think, in general, I am not too cantankerous. I think the key might be coffee and not taking myself too seriously. I am too serious most of the time. I am worried about raising my kids to be good upstanding citizens, worried about being a good friend, wife, nurse and daughter. All this fretting can really get overwhelming – so, I am going to work harder at playing.

Yesterday my kids couldn’t figure out anything to do after school – which is funny if you look in the garage and see all the bikes, scooters, balls and other things to do. I looked at Audrey’s electric razor scooter that she HAD to have for Christmas and now hardly ever rides (although she did like it enough to name it Ruby) and I jumped on. She was yelling after me to get off because I was “too fat and would break it.” After getting back from an awesome ride up and down the street with an enormous grin on my face, I told her it was more polite to say “over the weight limit.” I knew a brief ride on her scooter wasn’t going to do damage and, quite frankly, it raised my spirits tremendously.

This past weekend we went to Young Life’s Creekside camp in Antelope, Oregon. It is a camp designed for middle-schoolers. It was so much fun – BECAUSE it was designed for middle-schoolers. Kids know how to have fun so much more than adults. Just look at these slides:

I spent the weekend swimming, mini golfing and just playing. It was awesome. I went down this really dark, really fast tube slide and couldn’t help but giggle the entire way down.

I think this need for play is why I am drawn to mud runs at the moment. Running through obstacles in the mud is pretty hard to beat. It’s hard to take yourself seriously when you are covered in mud. I am going to work on my fun quotient. All the troubles of the world seem just a bit more manageable after play time.