On a Lighter Note

“You look silly mama!” 
My son told me that a few days ago while we were just shooting the breeze and I was acting a fool.  I was really acting a fool. I was trying to dance the gangnam style but it really wasn’t working out.  I had fun doing it anyway.  I got the kids laughing at me and it made the mood lighter.  They could see it was mama trying to be cool and trying to act like a teenager.  More importantly, they could see I could let down my hair once in a while and just be mama.  (Yes, my kids call me mama and I just adore the way it rolls off their tongues).
I digress.  We (adults) are so into chasing after the next deal, next contract, next higher paying job, we forget to actually let ourselves enjoy the present.  We work so hard, trying to maintain that calm or hard exterior to the world while we may be crying on the inside.  In some instances, I have read that some people actually have two types of personalities - one for work and the other for their personal lives.  An introvert being an extrovert at work, just to meet up with some expectation.  When the introvert- turned-extrovert gets home, he/she is so worn out because so much energy has been exerted being who they are not.  Lighten up.
My friend summed me up in a nutshell when introducing me to her boyfriend a few years ago when we were in college.  The boyfriend knew me just as a close buddy of his girl. We always exchanged the usual hi’s and how’re you doing but nothing deeper.  Then they came over to my place for my birthday and I started shooting the breeze.  He was taken aback, couldn’t figure out who was standing talking non-stop before him. I had transformed.  My friend told him, “oh, so you didn’t know Nike talks a lot?”  I wasn’t focused on getting to the next class or getting out of class, I was focused on having fun.  I realized the times that have been the most memorable fun times for me were when I actually went into a situation with almost a childlike expectation and no airs.  Take for instance my experience at the roller skating ring. It had been years since I skated, but when I got on with the bunch of 10 year-olds and under, you couldn’t really tell it had been that long.  I was again ‘silly mom acting like a teenager.’  The good thing about letting my hair down every so often is that it makes me so much more approachable to my kids and to anyone in general.  I feel my kids can talk to me about anything at that point in time.  I hope they always will be.
Now, lay off the laptop, phone, iPad or whatever new gadget or toy you have for a while and go reintroduce yourself to your family and friends. 
 Lighten up....later.

 Yes, that's me keeping it real :-)