Adults can play too!!!

There have been many vacations that I’ve taken with family, where the adults have been perfectly happy to sit by and watch the kids play.
I remember one beautiful summer day, we were on vacation in Idaho. The kids got to spend time with their cousins, and we took them all to a local reservoir. There were trees surrounding most of the water, and it was big enough for different families to play, and still have some privacy. In a few places there were rope swings hanging from large trees. We stationed ourselves where it was nice and shallow, so the smaller childern could play in the water safely. The bigger kids swam across the pond to the rope swings. The children had so much fun, and as adults we sat in lawn chairs watching and visiting with one another.
Something in me wanted to swim, but I didn’t do it. The next day the kids went off to play softball. They asked us adults to join, but we opted to just sit around again!!
Later that night, as we watched the kids play on a playground, I saw another large family. They were all playing a game of football. This football game consisted of about 60% adults and 40% kids or teens. I watched them play and I smiled with just a twinge of envy. Oh how I wanted to play like that with my family. How I wished that I had played softball and gone swimming with the kids. Maybe if I had done it, then the other adults in my family would have joined in also.

A month later we found ourselves at the beach in California. I knew my kids would love it and that’s why I took them there. The walk to the water was a long walk across hot sand. It was hard to walk on, and the sand got in your shoes and between your toes when you walked. I hadn’t put on my swim suit yet, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I got everyone settled. They quickly decided that playing in the ocean was a lot better that sitting around by Mom making sand castles. They got in the water with Dad, and a few of them made sand castles down by the water, risking the waves washing away the walls of their creations.
I had a decision to make. I could sit on my towel and do nothing but watch again, or I could take the long hard walk back to the bathrooms to change into my swim suit so that I could get wet. Luckily I’d learned from my earlier summer experience. I made the trek back to the restrooms. When I got back to my family, I found that the water was unusually warm. I jumped right in with the kids and showed them how to body surf. I held my youngest sons hand and helped him to brave the waves as they came. Before I got in with him, he had decided that the waves were too scary and he was ready to get out. We learned together that it’s okay if you get knocked over in the waves, and your head is submerged. We held hands and turned our backs to the waves. We ducked down when they came towards us and let them carry us up to the shore. My 18 year old son, who hates to swim, enjoyed watching his mom get knocked about in the water so much, that he tried body surfing himself. He even braved much deeper waters than I did, and played with his brothers all morning long.
We stayed in the water for hours. I think in that one day I had more fun with my kids than at any other time I can remember. I thought for sure my body would be sore the next day for all I had put it through, but I was pleasantly surprised. I felt great and we didn’t even get burned, I remembered the sunscreen.
The lesson I’ve learned is that just because we’re adults doesn’t mean we can’t have just as much fun as the kids. It just helps to be in good physical shape so that you can really keep up and enjoy the time spent running, jumping, swimming or playing.