"...we grow old because we stop playing."

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about the good ol' days: Summers spent in the mountains of Virginia playing games with my cousins, Sunday afternoons when everyone took naps and we had to find ways entertain ourselves, those days on the playground when Jeremy and Marcus were hogging the monkey bars and we had to resort to other means of excitement. I started thinking about all the games we used to play and started to wonder, "Why we don't still play them?"

Okay so maybe we're busier, have other responsibilities and priorities. We're older now and have to behave as such so that means no games, right?

A few years ago someone sent me one of those Snowball fight-email-forward things. (I mean really, how lame are we that we can't even have a REAL snowball fight but have to have one via email instead?) At the very bottom of the email, which by the way was complete with an animated snowball splattering its cutsey little face onto the inside of the computer screen, was a quote from George Bernard Shaw.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." 

I have no real idea who this George Bernard Shaw guy is, BUT he makes a good point. As we get older we start taking on life: we get jobs, we work toward degrees, we start families, we take on leadership positions throwing every bit of ourselves into trying to succeed in those things. We take on so much and forget to enjoy whatever it is we're doing (yes, believe it or not, once upon a time, we chose to do those things because we actually liked them). We get so wrapped up in all the things we once loved and they begin to act as anti-younging agents... leaving no time for FUN! Oh sure, there's the occasional drink with a friend or movie night with the girls. But what about real, live, let loose, ask-no-questions, grass stained, music blasting, wind in your hair, spin until you're dizzy, laugh until it hurts fun?

No wonder we're getting old! In fact, it's a miracle we aren't eating at the K&W Cafeteria and buying Poligrip!We're not making any time for ourselves to have fun. And we've spent so much time thinking that we're "too old for that" we're probably also a little afraid of that much fun. We might look silly and we just can't have that... can we?

So, I have compiled a list with as many games as I could think of. Play them in your class. Play them at your chapter meetings. Play them with your coworkers. Play them with your family. Play them for yourself. Play them to stay young.

If you have some to add, feel free to share!

The Games We Play(ed)

• Bloody Murder: It's a combination of hide and seek and Tag. The person who's "IT" counts while everyone goes and hides. When IT finds the first hider, the hider yells "BLOODY MURDER" at the top of his lungs and everyone comes out of hiding and tries to run to base without being tagged by IT. 
• Red Rover: Oh come on, this one's a classic. Need I even explain?
• Dodge ball (in the circle): You know, not the kind they made that ridiculous movie about but the kind we played in elementary school. Half of the group makes a circle and throws balls (hopefully very soft, squishy, painless balls) at the other half of the group who are in the middle of the circle.
• Duck Duck Goose: Once again, need I explain?
• Chinese Freeze Tag: A funny twist on traditional freeze tag, to get "un-frozen" someone has to crawl between the legs of the frozen players without getting tagged themselves. Oh just the thought makes me giggle.
• Capture the Flag: Divided into two teams, each group has a set of flags (though because we were poor flags were often substituted by cones, rocks, shoes, hats, or whatever else we could find.) Members of the opposite teams try to cross over into "enemy territory" to steal their flags without being tagged. The first team with all the flags wins.
• Red light, Green light: The caller yells "Green Light" and you dance, move, walk, run, jump, climb. Just be ready to freeze in whatever awkward position you've got yourself into as soon as the caller yells RED LIGHT!
• Arm Wrestling: When's the last time you arm wrestled? Can't remember either, can you?
• Thumb Wrestling: One, Two, Three, Four, I declare a thumb war!
• Mother May I?: Yes, you may.
• Simon Says!
• Dance!: The Hustle, Thriller, The Macarena, The Electric Slide, The Chicken Dance. Heck, if you can remember the steps just do-si-do with someone until you're dizzy.

Now, who's up for a game of Red Rover? :-D