Let’s Play!
Postcards home from the Imagic Machine
By Sandy Brown
It’s March 5 and I am sitting in my living room in Spokane, WA watching it snow outside. Part of me groans, “Not again. I don’t want to deal with the walks that need shoveling and the slick streets.” Another part of me thinks, “Ooooo. It’s so pretty. I could watch this all day. Snuggle up with my coffee and absorb the beauty, and then later go out to play.” The first reflection is what I tend to think of as my ‘grown up’ reaction. The second is my inner child being, well, childlike.
NO!
I am not going to accept that dichotomy. I am a grown up. I like to play. I think snow is playful and beautiful and I am really glad to live in it. There. I’ve said it. All of you other grown ups can groan if you want, but I am going to play.
This past weekend the Finding Human Project participated in a community Expo in the West Central Neighborhood of Spokane. With about twenty other vendors we invited the public to come meet us all and share food and games and fun. Our FHP booth was an invitation to grown ups to play. Let me explain.
With the latest in Blanket Fort Technology, we built an iMagic Space and Time Machine to transport passengers to exotic destinations. A brand new prototype origami Space and Time Determiner helped us choose locations and times as endpoints of travel. We were able to transport participants to prehistoric earth, the moon in 2134, and a space pirate ship in 2176, along with 5 other carefully selected locations in time and space. With flashing lights and glittery curtains we were able to set down in dangerous places. Thankfully, we had our Magic Portal that would take us out of peril to home with the push of a button.
When we play we open our minds and hearts to new possibilities for life and relationships and adventure.
A few grown ups made the journey without children present, and we are grateful to these adventurous souls. Many adults needed the guidance of children to enter our time machine and play. Now, I respect children as world class experts in the art of playing. I appreciate their skills and insights. BUT, why let kids have all the fun! Come on, grown ups. We don’t need kids in order to use our imaginations and engage the universe. We all have places to go, times to explore and stories to tell. When we play we open our minds and hearts to new possibilities for life and relationships and adventure. Building worlds and meeting new characters releases us to connect with our communities and families, and yes, even our children if we still have them around. We at FHP played on Saturday at the Expo. It was fun. Next time maybe you can join us.
The Finding Human Project creates a safe environment where people from all walks of life discover stories, what it means to be human, get curious, and play.
In the time I have taken to write this blog entry, it has stopped snowing. Much of the snow has already melted and the roads are clear. I have a date to swim the English Channel to France and need to get moving. Play on!