To Play or Not To Play

If my blog as a bit more up to date, I could start out this post saying,

"Yesterday..."

or maybe

"Last weekend..."

or even

"Recently..."

but I'm going to have to go with:

A while ago...

The NPA students and families were invited to spend a no-school-Friday at the nearby "Jump'n'Bounce."  The kids were dying to go, so after spending the morning obsessing over how to pull off an ensemble that simultaneously said "fun young mom" and "appropriate when recognized as Mrs. Fife" and would allow me plenty of flexibility to play in the blow up obstacle courses, we headed out to have some family fun.

I know how why the ensemble was so hard to balance: none of the other mothers planned to play.  It turns out there is a second-floor parents' lounge where most of the adults hang out, supervising from above.  A few of the moms keep a closer eye from the ground level.  But only one mom ignored her kids entirely and dove in.  (And the best part was, I convinced Kirk to play alongside me!)

I don't know why I am fundamentally bad at growing up.  But I do know my 6th grade students were cheering me on as I attempted some sort of a flying handspring.

Playing tag with the
students (hand on
head = I'm playing)

And I do know that one of the other moms felt pretty sheepish after stopping me and asking me and others to slow down our game of tag (and then she realized I was Mrs. Fife, not one of the students).

Part of me kind of wonders if anyone else there thought I was weird.  But most of me doesn't really care.  And all of me hopes I never stop playing.

I think Dylan hopes so too.  I recently overheard him outside my bathroom door asking Kirk where mommy was.  I hurried and hid in the bathtub, and he was convinced I had disappeared!  This led to a prolonged game of hide-and-seek, and I had to get a bit creative.  There are only so many places to hide in a bathroom.

Eventually, our babysitter arrived, and Kirk had to help me down from my final location so we could go on our planned date.  And now Dylan likes to count outside my bathroom door just in case mom might disappear.