More of the Time Capsule from Christmas 1984

I'm the girl on the bed, writing the letter to my dad in California.



This was only a slight exaggeration of the goofiness in our actual lives.

Merry Christmas from Ten Year Old Me

So, it's not Christmas, you say? It's not 1984 any more, either, so chill out and watch this.



I think we didn't know how to have a still photo of me with music playing, so we decided I would just be perfectly still instead of having a still photo. I got tired of smiling.

Thank you, Aunt Laurie, for publishing this gem on youtube!

Quote of the Day

"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted." -Garrison Keillor

This reminds me of a story... of course.

When I was a kid, two doors down, there lived a little boy named Timmy. Timmy had all of the toys in the world inside his garage. Timmy was not actually the nicest kid, but occasionally, all of the neighborhood kids would go over there, just to play with his toys.

I objected to this, on principle. A play companion should be judged by the content of his character, not the size of his toy closet! In protest, I would go inside my house and refuse to participate. I would refuse, that is, until one of my friends came over and asked me to come outside and play again. Once I saw I was missed, the temptation was too great. I had to go out and play again, even if it had to be in Timmy's garage.

That's pretty much what just happened here.


Thanks to this web site with a naughty name for posting the photo!

The Exuberant Animal by Frank Forencich

The "Exuberant Animal" is you! This book basically says that you need to behave like an animal, because you are one. Also, you should play. Also, the normal types of "gyms" basically suck. Also, before leading a sedentary lifestyle, you should consult your doctor, because it's killing you!

I haven't actually read the entire book, but I've read all around it and I get the picture. We need to live in our bodies and enjoy being in our bodies. Be present in our lives. And socialize! And play!

The wisest person you know is your dog. (I don't have a dog and I don't like them at the moment because we had one just kill a chicken, but I'm willing to play along.) Your dog lays around and plays, mostly. If someone comes to the door, he goes into freakout mode and barks and yaps, but then if he knows the person, he immediately calms down and licks them or whatever. He doesn't obsess like, "Oh no! That was my best friend Carol! How could I yap at her? God, I'm such an idiot. She hates me now." No, no. He just stops yapping and gets his favorite toy for her to throw. Because, not only does he not obsess over things, your dog never stops playing. Playing is not just for puppies. Playing is for everyone! Why does the dog play? Who cares? It's just what dogs do! They play!

And humans are actually the same way, or should be. We should do movements that we enjoy. Also, we should play with other people.

Forencich is really against those gym machines, like the treadmills and the stationery bikes, where you just do the same motion over and over like to be done with it! Not to be conscious of your body or enjoy nature or perform any real work, but just to be done with it. This is the worst sort of exercise. Exercise should be challenging and fun and social.

Some parts of this book I really loved, because they affirmed my parenting style, which is like this,

"Go out and play!"

I think most people my age or older had parents who said that a lot. It seems like it isn't so common anymore. I think the world has become afraid. Well, not the world- the U.S.

Apparently, when you go outside and play, and you're bored or whatever, and then you get interested in something, and then you do something, that's when your brain is growing and your body is learning as well. The best kind of play for children, according to Forencich, is unsupervised playing outdoors.

This part reminded me suddenly of a documentary, "Children of the Holocaust," where the one child (who was interviewed later as an adult) had been placed in a concentration camp. He said that he and the other children there fantasized about two things: to eat a lot, and to play unsupervised. That was all.

This book covers so much that I won't go into it all. I haven't even finished it yet, and I already have so much to think about. It spawned a discussion about how we used to play as children, which was really fun and interesting. We did gripe a lot about the kids we get in class who don't seem to know what to do with free time, because their lives have become so structured. Then we all went to lunch and came back, and before the teacher began again, a woman said,

"I just have to say something." (Oh, no, I thought. Here it comes. More about how kids don't play like they used to.) "I was driving back from lunch," she said, "and it was raining as you know. I saw two little girls, barefoot, no adults around, playing in the puddles. Just playing."