"Childlike" pursuits for Adults

When was the last time you laid on the ground and looked up at white clouds gleaming against a brilliant blue sky?

Was it 30 years or 20 minutes ago?

Where did your imagination take you?  Did you captain your ship between the icebergs?  Did you prepare to fight off the ferocious fluffy animals?  Did you smile?

Some people might see this a "childish" behavior.  I beg to differ.  It is a "childlike" endeavor.

Now some of you may be thinking "But, Lori, they mean the same thing".  Some of you would be incorrect.

Here is the difference:
Childish implies silly or immature behavior.
Childlike connotes the good qualities of childhood such as wonderment.

I spent 20 minutes on my back on the deck looking at the clouds after dinner.  Hunter and I am sure any neighbors who may have passed by thinking I had totally lost my mind, but what good is a mind if you're not going to use it.

In that 20 minutes, I am fairly certain Great Britain and Ireland drifted above me.  Beasties in all manner of indistinguishable origins floated by.  And yes I did get my boat through the dangerous fluffbergs.  Thanks for asking.

That 20 minutes of being childlike and using my imagination were the best 20 minutes I've spent in a long time.

My last piece of wisdom: You don't have to be a grown up 24/7.  Take time for the imaginative, the silly and all the other childlike behaviors we are not supposed to engage in.

Peace!

A Quick Aside Regarding Silence

Most of you know that three people who are close to me have already or shortly will be relocating.  One, whom I consider a little sister, has relocated from Midland to the Dallas area for what should be an amazing opportunity that she likely would not get here. The second person is currently four days at her new location in Grand Rapids, MI and one day in Midland until she closes at her house.  

I'm fairly certain that there will always be a bond between contestants one and two whether it is via phone, email or visiting.  It may not always be easy but they are both people I love at some level.

Contestant 3.  Oh contestant 3.  How wrong was I about you.  Which leads us to the topic.

Right off the bat I will say that contestants 1 and 2 are much closer to me than Ms. 3.    When I met contestant 3 it was at exactly the right moment as I had just been "downsized" from my job and ended up in my former/current group. 3 was a breath of fresh air compared to most people in my function. When I found out she was leaving, we did set up one last dinner.  The topics were basically my career and my single status (tragically I am still single).  A day or two later I emailed to ask whether she would be open to keeping in touch .  My answer was silence (Oh look! The actual topic).

I don't know about any of you, but nothing irks me more than people who think that silence is a valid answer to anything.  It is the easy way out.  Saying everything without saying anything at all.  It is cowardly.  

So Contestant 3, I wish you well but if you ever see me again, feel free not to speak to me.

Short and Sweet

It's messed up when you meet "The One" only to have them leave.

Back to the Blogging Thing

It's been awhile since I've done this blogging thing with a little something I like to call  Celtgirl's Big Adventure.  Written mainly during a three week period I spent training folks in the Mumbai BPSC, this contains my thoughts and observations.  It was the real first experience outside of my comfort zone and probably some of the best writing I have done in my life and my last truly creative endeavor.  This was in 2007.

Creativity: It was a passion of mine.  Writing in particular.  I wrote from elementary school on through college.   Sadly I believe I peaked in the 6th grade with a short story titled "Trapped in a Cave".  Utter rubbish but it won me a Young Authors award.  Now the only writing I do is documentation.

I've seem to come to some a crossroads in my life.  Sadness with three good friends relocating.  Uncertainty in my career path.  Urgency to find my place in the world before society deems me too old and doors begin to close.  Midland is not that place.

One of the people who is leaving gave me some good advice: It is all well and good to have ideas but unless you do something with them nothing will change.  Simple.  Of course then the subject turned to "What are you doing about this being single thing?" and a WTF moment ensued....

The one thing I do know is that I miss writing.  This is my Flying By The Seat of my Pants attempt to get back to it.  No clue what I will write about or how often I will write but I will write.  Hopefully a few people will find this of interest.

Cheers