Last night after a beautiful day of travel my butterfly and I were relaxing in the hotel pool enjoying the interaction of people of all ages. One of the Moms, watching her children play with complete strangers without conditions made the most interesting comment; “the kids love parallel play.”
What she was referring to was the ability of young people to simply accept others in their activity. Some were splashing joyfully, some where sharing pool toys, some were jumping into the pool, getting out and doing it again; simply enjoying the freedom to do as they pleased. No one was trying to outdo or judge, they were just living the moment. What a wonderful way to be! Is Parallel play something we have to surrender when we hit a certain age?
Yes, as bigger people we have responsibility, we have all manner of things on our minds, but certainly there has to be place in our daily lives to simply be. There has to be time in our “adult” lives to revel in the abandon of joy. I wonder if this ability to just be is what we mourn about the loss of our childhood as we count more candles on our birthday cakes. When was the last time you simply took the hand of someone you care for and took a simple walk around the block. If there is a sprinkler spraying the sidewalk, to just keep walking through it rather than making a detour. To reclaim the joy of being does not require spending money or making a journey to some distant place; the opportunity to experience joy is all around us if we let go of the expectations we think others place upon us.
Will today be the day you let yourself experience parallel play for yourself again?
