Having fun.

To: Paracelsus.teleport.com
Subject: Re: Having fun
From: Henriette Kress <HeK.hetta.pp.fi>
Date: Feb 1996

>The social worker who has been visiting one of my patients has decided what he (and his wife) needs is fun in their lives -- something fun. I would like a run on "What do we do for fun?" Seriously. And that could be fun.

It sure is:

Pillow fights, pushing contests, funny tracks in the snow, summer walks in the woods; try to hit each other on the feet with (whatever) ... make a castle in the sand. Make two and watch the waves eat them, or make three and play Tyrannosaurus Rex or earthquake.

Talk in funny faces code (don't ask...), work in your garden. Watch everyone get drenched in a rainstorm and just laugh at their faces - it isn't really what you do, it's how you do it.

Run out in a summer rain, minimally dressed except for the umbrella and the rubber boots; keep your water pistol and a couple of water balloons handy and have a friendly neighborhood water war ;-) and dodge the mosquitoes, too. Enjoy the hot shower after that.

Go to a rock concert and sing all the songs as loud as you can - nobody is going to hear you, they're all singing too. Great feeling. Or just sing in the rain - or in the streets, and if you do, remember to make funny faces at folks looking at you strangely. You shouldn't worry about what other people think about you; either they don't know how to have fun themselves or they approve.

Tell a really dirty joke and start to laugh at everybody's shocked faces ;-) then tell another. And another, until they make you stop ... want to hear the one about the monkey and the peanuts?

Try to catch snowflakes with your hands, and after you get good at that, with your tongue. Go walk on the ice in the sunshine. Keep your eyes open for whatever amazing things nature might throw your way... catch a mouse if you can, and let it run if you can't (let it run after you caught it, too.) Watch a butterfly sleep in the winter under a leaf... admire dew in a spiderweb. Or watch the waves of a large body of water.

And remember to have fun.

I do.
Henriette