“Play with me, Daddy.”

The other day, after work when I was feeling worn out, Nate came to me and took my hand and said “play”.

So we went outside…and we played.

I chased him.

He chased me.

Then…to mix things up a little…I chased him some.

And then, when I was done chasing him, he chased me.

We did this for a while.

It was pretty fun.

At some point, I thought to myself, “Hey…I remember what this felt like! Sunup to sundown, when I was a kid, we were running…running through the woods, running on the beach….crawling under things, jumping over things…playing. This is what it felt like to just play! This is pretty good…”

And then Nate chased me…and I ran and dodged for a while.

It was fun just screwing around outside…running and yelling…playing.

Now, sometimes, things are different than that for me.

At some point, things got kind of “businesslike” for me in the exercise department.

I started feeling my pulse.

I started timing things.

It was a “regimented discipline”.

Not all the time, but enough that it stopped feeling like “just playing”.

I knew that if I didn’t pay attention to things like pulse rate and aerobic vs. anaerobic, that I wouldn’t get the maximum benefit out of my efforts.

Maybe there’s something wrong with that conscious an approach?

“Play” was never about being conscious of any benefit other than just laughing and running and having fun….and that was never considered a “benefit” while we were playing….it was just a byproduct that we were too busy having fun to notice.

I don’t know why we had to get so tired and serious when we got a little older.

This video is one that a friend shared on Facebook.

I love this guy’s enthusiasm and approach to life. What a bundle of energy! Holy Smokes….and the amount of interest he takes in his world is something to be emulated.

He is having a blast just being alive.

Now, I worry a little about retirement and getting “enough” to cover our needs. I worry a little about “accruing”…about “keeping up”…about making sense to the people around me.

From what I read and hear, a person needs to worry about things like that.

Worrying is just a product of maturity. Being very concerned about your family’s future is the right thing to do….right?

I worry about being a “good adult”…I worry about not really understanding what that even is.

What’s a “good adult”, anyway?

Maybe I should worry more about playing with my children and squeezing all the life out of every day that I can?

Maybe I should make a habit of just doing that and staying so busy that I forget to worry?

That sounds like a lot more fun than worrying about anything….or worrying about everything.

Play sounds fun.

Check out this video…hah!