Fun Finds Me (Part 2)

When I was ten years old, my dad finished our basement and turned it into a family room. While he intended the space under the stairs as a storage area, I saw it as a clubhouse. I carpeted the floor with cast off carpet tiles and taped posters of Donny Osmond and David Cassidy to the walls; I turned it into a ten-year-old's version of an art studio.

My friends and I spent hundreds of hours in that little, damp space creating tissue paper flowers, telephone wire rings, beaded bracelets, and treasures. We painted cast-off bottles and turned them into vases. (We were the forerunners of the "green" movement.) I remember how hot it was that summer (before my family could afford central air-conditioning), and how cool it was in our little, groovy studio under the basement stairs.

This summer, the summer of my fiftieth year, I'm playing like a ten year old. I'm turning a spare bedroom into a grown-up version of that clubhouse of my childhood. My sewing machine, which had been stored in a closet gathering dust, is set up on a wonderfully shabby oak library table. I purchased second-hand industrial shelving and have an entire wall organized with bins of crafting materials. I've been scouring thrift stores for objects to re-purpose. I'm hanging posters of Donny and David. (kidding) I'm decorating it with things things that sing to my soul: fun snapshots of my kids, my sash of badges I earned in Girl Scouts, old laboratory glassware, a rock collection. When I'm in this space, with praise music playing on the radio, and with glue and scissors in my hands, I find myself able to pray again.

(Wellness: It's not just about losing weight. It's about gaining abundance and balance. For me, balance is found in adding play to the mix. Thank you Fun for playing hide-and-seek with me. I'm glad you found me!)