Moms Just Want to Have Fun

I have to confess, I’ve forgotten how to have fun. Between endless to-do lists, family taxi driver duties, and some unusual stress in 2013, fun never made it to the top of my list. In fact, until recently it didn’t even make it onto the list!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve tended toward being too serious. Four or five years ago, I was doing a lot of heavy, serious, spiritual reading. It was all I read for quite a while and it became apparent that my life was getting out of balance with the scale tipping toward “All work and no play make Laura a dull girl.”

So for my New Year’s resolution that year, I decided that I needed to lighten up. It was time to read some light fiction, watch some romantic comedies, and pick up a new hobby that was all about fun.

So what did I choose to spend my free time doing? Balloon animals.

That’s right. I learned how to twist balloon animals and balloon hats. Given that I’m not a circus clown or party performer, learning how to twist balloon animals was completely useless and all about fun. It was great! I would make hats for my boys and their friends. I even twisted swords and armor for them to wear.

So when the end of 2013 rolled around and I started hearing about people choosing their “word of the year” for 2014, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give this new approach to resolutions a try. All I needed to do was pick a word that would be my focus for the year. I picked “Fun.”

So far my efforts at living up to my word-of-the-year have been fairly successful. I’ve spent some time cooking new recipes and watching movies with my kids. My reading list has changed a bit as well. I’m reading some romance novels (a newfound guilty pleasure) and carving out time to sit and read a magazine. I’m planning on taking my husband to a funny movie we’ve both wanted to see and I might even convince him to take a ballroom dance class with me. (Wish me luck!)

So while I look for my balloons to twist, answer this: What do you do for fun?

Let the fun begin!