PLAYMATE

PLAYMATE

I don’t know how or when she became a part of the family next door. What I do know is she visited me one day, sat on the scrabble table, and stayed for two weeks. A day before we were to leave for an extended vacation, I sent a picture of her reclining to the neighbors with the caption, “Doll playing scrabble? That girl (the owner of the doll) knows how to mark her territory.” That night as I mentally reviewed the check list for our impending departure, I had a flashback of an encounter at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming with a stranger as he posed and took pictures with an inflatable tiger. The mystery of why he was doing this drove me and my husband to ask. We were told that the tiger was his family’s traveling companion and had been photographed all over the world. Family and friends looked forward to receiving the photos. Of course, we took a picture with the tiger.

The idea took flight in my head. When the seven-year-old (she always ask, “can I go?”) arrived to officially to send us off and to pick up the doll, I requested and was granted permission to take the squatter doll with us. I promised that the nameless doll would facetime and send videos regularly. That, my friends, is how brown-skinned, wild blue hair, eyes that never closed, purplish red lips, moveable arms and hands and wrapped in a small multi-colored piece of fabric, doll became our traveling companion.

As is our custom, we checked in with the family before leaving the states and discovered that her name was Brittany.

Brittany, the stowaway, spent a lot of time tucked away in our carryon bags since she had neither ticket nor passport. Her other favorite spots were the tray table on the airplane, hanging on the strap of my gray purse or in my husband’s pocket. He began to create his own narrative about Brittany and her personality.

Brittany’s presence ushered us into a play space not often accessed. Our imagination became both fluid and spontaneous and void of the cares and concerns of the responsible adults that we are. We could more easily focus on being lighthearted with her around. Brittany converted strangers and fellow travelers into acquaintances.

What did we experience from traveling with Brittany? An inanimate object drew the energy of others to us. The sight of Brittany sitting on the table in a restaurant with two adults minus a young child, raised eyebrows, started conversations, and drew smiles from the young and seasoned…just as the tiger had done in Wyoming. We took more than two hundred photos of Brittany and began to look at things with childlike wonder and awe. Moreover, every photo or video exposed our little neighbor to a part of the universe that she had never seen, to people who looked and spoke differently from her, but related to her through their interactions with Brittany.

So, I pose this question again to you! When did you last take time to be festive, frivolous, and adventurous? When did you last engage in child’s play? I encourage you to periodically seek the opportunity to do so. It is revitalizing and rejuvenating. What it is not is a waste of time.

Matt. 18: 3-4

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Adulting and being childlike can coexist.