I used to love, love, LOVE summertime! School time wasn't my thing, so I could hardly wait for the last day of school--because that meant that I was free to enjoy life! For the whole summertime. That usually meant day after day doing nothing but: skateboarding on the sidewalks and in the street; splashing and chasing my brother and sister in our above-ground pool; playing cars in the dirt with my brother; making terribly unsquared hopscotch squares and trying to best my sister.
That is, until my mother would take us shoe shopping for that perfect, sturdy, nearly indestructible pair (usually saddle shoes) that would have to last for the whole next school year. This was always a signal that my summertime freedom was almost over. Ka-put! Finito!
This summer I have been contemplating my schoolgirl idea of freedom with my here-and-now adult view. Some days I lament that I can't take my grandma thighs down to our neighborhood pool and swim and frolic in the water from mid-morning to almost dinnertime! Oh, the horrors! Being in public in my swimwear--I shudder to think! Trying to swim laps back-and-forth while dodging the squealing kids splashing and cannon-balling!
Fun.
Girls just wanna have fun!
And so does this grandma! To laugh until it hurts; swim when I desire to; sing at the top of my lungs to songs that make my spirit soar!
To just flat-out enjoy life!
So why do I instead act (99% of the time) like a dignified adult?
Hmmmm.
I like being a dignified adult. Mostly because I won't look "silly" or "stupid" or "dumb".
But am I living my life freely being me?
Or am I repressing the joy that God infused in my spirit?
I think He wants to free me (once and yet again) from the awful burden of "adulthood".
So here's to splashing in the pool and running through the sprinklers and playing hopscotch!
I think the kids in the neighborhood pool have it right!
Joy.
Think I'll go check-out our neighborhood pool!
See ya!