September 3,2024

Dear Friends,

We have the great joy of making memories with our sweet granddaughters. Just recently I was with Bailey helping out while my daughter Tammy was working from home. We were playing on the floor with magnetic building blocks. I was just as fascinated as she was as they held together in a variety of ways. She loved looking into a mirror and seeing the “other baby.” We played patty cake and laughed. The next day our other granddaughter, Peyton, was at our house and again we were immersed in play. We played toss the ball while she was on the trampoline, hide and seek, then drawing people on a white board. After actively playing with us she was in her own imaginative world. She loves the animals and little people, little cars and creates stories as she has each one talking to the other. She loves to go into Steve’s office pick up the phone and have a conversation with someone (?) while she walks on the treadmill. We crack up when she calls Steve ‘Sir’, or says to me “What’s going on with you?”

One of the funniest things she did was notice I had post it notes in my office and she wanted some. I gave her a small pack and she wrote her name on each one and began sticking them everywhere ( on desks, photos, walls, books etc.).

The funniest thing was when I found a sticky note on the lid of the toilet seat in our guest bathroom the next day.

Why am I sharing these precious moments with you? Because there are times we just need to get on the floor and PLAY. If you have young grandchildren that is a given. If you don’t, play is till important for adults. We need time in the day to just let everything go and allow our imagination to take over. Give your mind a break. Take a meditative moment to imagine yourself at a place of JOY, a beach, a mountain top, a walk in the woods. And/or go for a walk, go to the beach, take a day trip to somewhere you love. We all need to unplug from our daily lives, our computers, our phones, the newspaper and TV news.

What if we woke up everyday with a sense of JOY and decide to find something fun to do or to see. What makes work fun? When I am at my computer I play music because it brings me joy while I work. When I walk I talk to the trees and bushes and stop for a moment by them, and watch the leaves flutter. I like to think that is their way of responding to me. We can make anything happier, more joyful just by our attitude and gratitude.

Today find ways to laugh, play and find joy in each moment. Do something funny. Put a sticker on your toilet lid. Every time you lift it up, I guarantee you will laugh!

Take time to PLAY,                                                                                                               Abigail and Steve