The first day of spring is tomorrow. It doesn’t matter what the ground hog is seeing or believing, it’s no longer about him or his neighbors. The turtles have started popping up their heads while the Canadian Geese are searching for the most odd ball place to create their new family of goslings…and I’m not talking about Kate. Wait a second…let’s do! Except she spells her last name Gosselin.
The former television reality star is currently on the cover of People Magazine sporting the thought, “Why can’t Mom’s have fun?”
I’m so with her! While growing up, the one thing I totally missed out on was falling witness to my mother having a great time. We’re talking about a Wyoming farm girl who refused to hangout with the chickens and cattle because getting an education was first on her list of accomplishments. She looked at life and said, “A high school and college education are extremely important…so I’m leaving home.” And she did.
It takes guts without the glory to stare down the throat of chance and challenge. To be so brave during a time of war and poverty took spunk which at the time in 1940 could’ve easily been looked upon as being too wild and open for girls her age. Not because I’m her son, but wow…to have such courage screams, “I’m having a great time succeeding.”
By the time I was born she was settled in and taking life incredibly too serious. Her view of the world was governed by a rough divorce that left her being the single head of a household that featured a mentally challenged son that my grand parents wanted to institutionalize and another son my playful father called his favorite which left no room for anyone to gain access to a sip of attention.
Mom’s role was to be the hen in the house that constantly kept an eye on the tiny cutout door to make sure coyotes or raccoons didn’t mess up what little she had left to her name.
When humans stay harshly focused on survival too long—the idea of having fun no longer finds its breath on the surface of her innocent skin. I often wonder what my life would be like today if Mom would’ve been a little more playful? It kills me to think the American way of living is to blast our way through childhood and graduation only to become trapped inside an imprisoned state of mind because that’s the way its always been.
I’m jealous of Mr. and Mrs. George at Tae Kwon Do. Each of them make it a point to be actively involved in a fun way with the continuations they’ve brought into the world. It teaches them the importance of being human while exceeding the limits we place on ourselves as to how we’re supposed to act in a grownup world.
Being tied up by a dictionaries description of what a Mom is and shouldn’t be has turned 98% of this nation into consumers and not makers. A world kept hidden from the eyes that follow you become their way to act and react in the chapters they too are writing.
Personally, I live off my mother’s stories of grabbing life by the nap of the neck and saying, “Farming may be the job my father wants me to do but the rest of the world doesn’t work that way.” Call it a bucket list or a willingness to live…if being a Mom or Dad isn’t fun…I challenge you to find it.
The goal is to stop being the person research says you are. The purpose is to reach into the pits of your dreams and pull from the assumed wreckage everything you wanted to be because in the end how you got back to living shall be carried by the children who call you Mom.
Kate Gosselin has made the right choice! Why can’t Mom’s have fun? You spend nearly every minute of everyday racing from this side of town to the other almost never saying no to those you love and protect. Wouldn’t it be great to invite someone into your world of wishes?
Stop being the hen in the house waiting for the sly fox to barge through the front door!
Live life and have fun being who you really are—it creates stories worth sharing. I can’t imagine what the little George’s will tell their children about Grandpa and Grandma, “My Dad helped me love a sport not for its opportunities to win, win and win again but rather to fine tune the art of having fun while constantly learning new ways to live.”
Stop consuming American Culture and start making it!
Make room to have fun. If you can’t find fans then locate new friends. If you don’t think life was meant to be fun ask the giraffe what its creator was thinking. Anteaters, Zebra’s with white stripes rather than black, dolphins that constantly look like they’re dancing. Spring is here and every year it passes without you having fun is another season you aren’t going to get back.
Where do you begin? How do you start? Is there enough room in the world for you to be playful like a kid while still wearing adult rules? What’s the one thing that almost always happens when someone finally retires from their career? They fold in their strong shoulders and wilt away.
Fun doesn’t have to be drinking binges. Fun can be your children hiding the Easter Eggs and you have to find them. Fun doesn’t have to be camping in the great outdoors and your job is to be the fry cook. Fun is taking a Flip video camera and going all out artsy. Hook onto a great digital camera and turn your view of the world into pieces that inspire people you’ll never meet.
There are no rules in the business of fun until the one time you look at your eyes in the mirror and spot the very sadness your parents held during your days of discovery. It’s not selfish to want to be part of their growth but you go ahead, do it, I’ll be waiting for you over here on the park bench.
Make fun happen.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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