My connections to play

"Play is the answer to how new things come about." - Jean Piaget
My play time always encompassed the opportunity to explore my surroundings and use my imagination. I reminisce about playing in the woods at my grandmother's house for hours and learning new trails or riding my bike until the street lights came on. Each time I would find something new that I hadn't found before.

"Logic will get you from A to Z, but imagination will get you anywhere." - Albert Einstein
I would make play houses out of folding lawn chairs and play for hours with my Barbies or would tie a blanket around my neck, add some bracelets and become "Wonder Woman" - completed with my underoos! My cousin tells the story of how I had an imaginary friend named "Marcia" and would talk to her late at night when she would babysit me. She says I would have very in depth conversations with her like she was a real person. Apparently, it had scared my cousin several times as she thought I was talking to a ghost.

Toys that made my day:

Mrs. Beasley was one of my beloved dolls. I slept with her every night and played with her everyday until she fell apart and could no longer be salvaged. I remember my mom talking me into throwing her away then me changing my mind on garbage night. My mom went out into the rain to retrieve her for me before the garbage truck came.

 
I loved to make tents anywhere in my house. Some of my favorite memories include my younger brother and I making tents in our bedroom between 2 beds, watching the Jetsons and eating Doritos. It was such a place to get away from everything.


My other favorite doll was Baby Crissy. She had a long ponytail that would "magically" disappear when a string was pulled on her back. She could change her hairstyles instantaneously. I loved her so much and loved playing with her hair until...I got the scissors and permanently cut her hair. She wasn't as much fun after that.

My Supporting People
I remember learning to ride my bike without training wheels and watching my dad push me around the yard. I would always look back and check the shadow to see if he was still holding on. I miss him dearly. He also made sure my swing set was put together before he went into the hospital for a heart surgery as he wanted to make sure I had a happy birthday. While I don't remember too many playtimes with him, I remember him giving me the tools for play.

I had many friends in the neighborhood that I played with. Chris and Heidi taught me how to roller skate in my driveway. I loved to play Barbies, but Chris was never allowed as his dad was a police officer and had strong feelings about boys playing with Barbies. We would hide behind the walls of my porch so he could play and scramble to clean up when we heard noises. Dan and I would ride our bikes all over town along with Tiffany. I loved seeing the new sites and pretending I was on an adventure with them.

Past and Future
I loved having the freedom to ride my bike or take a walk for miles. I could be gone for hours and my parents never seemed to mind. I made the right choices....most of the time. It's sad that our society has changed so much that I wouldn't dare let my own children do these things now. I feel that I can't even let my children play in the yard without watching them every minute for a stranger to come by. I see children so wrapped up in media that they have never learned how to make a mud pie or had the opportunity to play tennis off the garage door while pretending you were in Wimbledon. The magic of imagination is all but disappearing from our children's play just like our connections with nursery rhymes.

"Life must be lived as play." - Plato
I am proud to be a mother and a director of a child care. I hope to always let my inner child shine. Just recently, we had numerous days of rain and my children were bored, complaining and fighting. I was busy doing homework and decided we needed to change things up. I invited them outside. My oldest child, age 10, looked at me like I was crazy. I ran out the door, up and down the driveway and splashed in puddle after puddle. He paused briefly and joined me giggling the entire time. Within minutes, my other children join me and we played for an hour in the rain, just splashing away. We filled buckets and dumped them on each other, slid across the grass like a make-shift slip and slide and had the time of our lives. It is my hope that I will never loose my inner child and they will cherish these memories over making the high score of a video game.
 

Relationship Reflection

Relationships take time to nurture and grow. There are times where distance can separate friends, but then life has a crazy way of reconnecting us. These are my friends from high school and we each share crazy stories of our high school days from 20 years ago. We take the time each year to get together when our friend Stephanie comes in town. These friends have gotten me through some tough times. I remember Stephanie loosing her mother to cancer in high school and when my dad died when I was in college, Stephanie had the words of wisdom I will never forget...."You've got to talk about it." Most of that time was a blur, but I can remember that conversation like it was yesterday.

If I've learned anything, relationships take time. They morph as time goes on and we grow yet it's the true friends that always come full circle and have your back when the world has turned on you. We have Facebook to keep in contact so that we always know what is going on in each other's lives and while we may not be there to give a hug when life throws a curve ball, we have the words to say "I'm thinking of you". I had other friends that I thought were my true blue friends from those days and have realized that we have grown apart and our values have changed. The success of friendship requires both people to work at. I lost what I thought was a good friend because I became tired of always being the one to work at it. I often question where I went wrong. I guess I'll never know despite attempts to find out.

 

These are my director friends from various backgrounds. Annie and I met at trainings and stumbled across our friend Susan at another training. She was from out of town and happened to be in our group for the class. I remember having discussions with her about a state funded program that I hoped would fold, but she needed it to sustain her facility. Later on we all had contact with Kathy, who became our state level designator for quality improvements. These are the people who get it. They understand staffing issues, program problems, parent complaints and the happiness I get when a child hugs me. They have each called me with their stresses and sometimes just ask for a moment to listen. We never judge each other for our mistakes and we have all grown in our field because of our support system. We also tend to question the norm and often get into trouble for asking questions. Somehow we've dubbed ourselves after superheroes. I'm Batman, Susan is Robin and Annie is the Joker. Kathy...she just laughs at our antics and fuels our fire to change the world.

 

All in all, I can't imagine my life without any of them. Each of them has worked to mold me into the person and professional I am. I am thankful for each of them...and always will be.