Monday Moment - Oh to be a kid again!

Last Saturday night we attended a Halloween party. It was slated as a grown-up party, but it was astonishing to see just how many kids actually showed up! Oh the median age was undoubtedly well over 50, but these were kids all the same!

And it was very clear that these apparent adults had stepped out of their day-to-day lives well beyond the bounds of this one Saturday night. Plans had been laid, shopping had occurred, sewing machines had been dusted off, and I’m willing to bet a lot of kid-like giggles erupted just thinking about the event. Costumes like we saw don’t just arrive at one’s door. They have to be constructed!

Oh there were a few kids at this party who showed up with their ‘cool cards’ still firmly entrenched. Token Jack-o-lantern pins, Halloween socks, an orange scarf. These were the only concessions to childhood that some folks brought to the party – and probably they felt like chaperones. That’s what I felt like at last year’s gathering before I saw the full potential of acting like a kid again.

Some kids kept it simple – the women in flapper dresses who looked like little girls playing dress-up, their gangster dates, the gentleman in a tux with a Phantom of the Opera mask, the tourists in mis-matched shorts and Hawaiian shirts.

Some relied on topical humor – Mr. Wall Street with his golden parachute and Joe the Plumber. Gilligan, the Captain, the millionaires, the movie star, the Professor and MaryAnn. The pregnant hillbilly bride.

And who were we? Our costume emerged from a gathering of near strangers two months before. There were eight of us. What could we go as together? Let’s be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs! What emerged was the kind of teamwork seen when kids play sandlot ball – all via email. Someone made hats – with our Dwarf names. Someone made belts. Someone else fashioned small – and safe – picks and shovels. We all managed to come up with beards, extra-extra large t-shirts and leggings. And then there was Snow. His Dwarf partner (Sneezy) fashioned an evocative ensemble in all the right colors – with just the right balance between sweetness and absurdity.

If you’re thinking that this whole experience was frivolous and childish, you’re only half right. It was absolutely frivolous. And it was child-like. Not childish. We played, danced, and paraded like children - making friends, not caring about appearances or status, having fun for the pure and simple sake of fun! There was a contest, in which all the fore-mentioned kids won prizes, but surely the real prize was the pure and simple fun.

Did we solve any world – or even personal problems? Nope. But did we face the world in the coming days with more verve, more excitement, more joy? Were we refreshed, rejuvenated, more hopeful? Were we more creative, energized, more prepared to see the world from a broader perspective? Oh I do believe we were.

We’ve long known that children learn through play. I wonder why we don’t more easily see that the same is true for adults. Hallelujah for Halloween which gave me and my friends the chance to be a kid again and reap the beneficence of play!

May you also en-joy a dose of playfulness and child-like fun in the coming week!

Sally