I am a children too

A Delightful Birthday Despite Flight Delays: Embracing Joy and Playfulness

My husband and I have a running joke where we speak English in a way our people in the village or country would. One phrase that stuck with us was when there was a group of kids being given treats, and a man sitting close by also held out his hand to receive. He was told that the treats were for the children, and he said, "I am a children too."

Over the weekend, and on my birthday to be precise, our flight from Tanzania to Kenya was delayed from 3 pm to 7 pm and later from 7 pm to 11 pm. We got there two hours before, as we are required to. We got home the following day with an unplanned stop for the night in Nairobi at 2 am! Now, all this would have made me a very dull and very unpleasant birthday girl, but I had my kids with me.

To many, my last statement would have them running and screaming at the thought of being stuck that long with kids. But to me, it was a joy and a pleasure. My kids and I played games, watched planes land and take off, made a game of that too, and also made up a new game, Panda Catch, where we basically spread out and played catch with my daughter’s new duty-free panda plush doll.

Sure, it was exhausting. We got cold, then hot, and went through the motions. But I kid you not, if I didn’t have my kids to play with, I would have been pretty miserable. I know because I looked around at the other adults who were waiting, and they were. Miserable, frustrated, and not to mention bored. I recall a few watching us play, and you could almost see it in their eyes that they wanted to join in. I even recall some of the staff cleaning who would just come by and watch us, even cheer and laugh when we caught the panda or fumbled it. One passenger passed us by in the airplane aisle and asked who won.

We often set aside things in categories and label them for kids because they are childish. But as I look back now, I think about how we as adults lose our sense of play and become so serious, bitter, and depressed. All work and no play make us dull, and I realize it is because we were shamed into believing those things are childish, and doing them would mean you are not mature and cannot handle grown-up stuff. I agree that some things should be left behind, but surely not all.

Perhaps it is this seriousness and lack of play that makes life hard. Can you imagine if we just put playgrounds around work areas and told the staff to go out and play when it got too intense?

Note to self: The storms are inevitable, but who you are with in a storm matters. In the storms of life, beloved, take those and especially He who can silence the storms with you.

Bible Verses for Finding Joy and Playfulness in Life:

1. Matthew 18:3 - "And he said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'"

2. Proverbs 17:22 - "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

3. Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 - "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."