I am sitting in Freedom Plaza but I don’t know it. The boys are skateboarding up and down the stairs. One boy rides, another shoots. They are creating their own myth. Instead of watching their heroes on TV, they’ve come here to make videos of their own triumphs at this sport, however small they may be.

Skateboard

(They go up and down. Up and down. Endlessly. That is passion. Passion is the willingness to repeat a process and finding still every time a great love for it.

They whizz by close to me on the bench and I have to lift my legs so the flying skateboard doesn’t hit me. What’s this place called, I ask? But he hasn’t time to answer because the cop is coming.

Skateboarding in Freedom Plaza is illegal. So it’s Freedom Plaza. The boy smiles at me while the cop  lectures him behind dark sun glasses. The boys look unsurprised but they acquiesce. OK no more skateboarding in Freedom Plaza. It’s part of the national parks system, the cop says. He repeats the speech to every boy, looking like he is going to confiscate their boards every time.)

 

Remember when you were little and you went to the museum and saw an awesome painting and you came home with your paint brushes and tried to make the same thing?

when you were studying geology and you had of make a volcano with molten lava out of clay and you painted it and it was so cool they installed in that yellow-stained glass in the hallway by the principal’s office?

Or when you saw the Wizard of Oz and just had had to have a pair of red shoes, which you got for Christmas and then wore the rest of the  week, knowing you would never walk ever again now that you had found the joy of dancing?

In adult life, sometimes the to-do list is the acme of our achievement tower.

But what if you did something out of the ordinary today?

What if you reclaim that magical gift of imagination, that fever to imprint our fantasies into the reality of every day life?

What if you finally went to that karaoke bar and sing in your real voice – just the way it is, beautiful, raw, untrained, honest? What if you dabbled in that arts and craft box and made something for someone who needs a burst of joy? What if you went running anyway even though the last time you ran was in gym class? What if you started something today with that same childlike optimism and fierce determination as when you build that papier-mache doll house?

What’s the worst that could happen?

You might overcome a fear of public speaking… by singing

You might find a new talent you didn’t know you had…

…and make someone you care about feel good

…You might enjoy yourself!

And then you can always go back to the to-do list. Or not.

It’s summer and I’m thinking about adventures. Itching for the next one! A friend said to me that she cannot feel it’s summer unless she goes to the beach for at least a week. What do you guys do to celebrate summer time? Any summer rituals, adventures? What do you do to keep the spirit young?

Happy Week-End Everyone!