Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
It is funny that as we reach certain ages, how our idea of “fun” changes.
Babies, for example, will start noticing rattles, stuffed animals and toys at an early age. That is fun for them and for parents as well.
Then we reach Kindergarten and grade school. Our ideas of fun change. We find ourselves playing games such as Tag, Ring Around the Rosie and Jump Rope.
When the weather was nice all the girls would get together to jump rope. We had sayings that we said as we jumped. One thing I do remember is jumping so many times and trying to get out of the jump without the rope hitting us. Today, I don’t think I could jump over, under, around or the fast game of rope jumping called Peppers.
We all liked playing some outdoor games, playing on the playground, with dolls or playing a good game of Jacks. Remember Jacks? When I was in the sixth grade (back in the dark ages) a bunch of girls would gather at recess and play. They were 10 weird shaped things called Jacks and a small ball. You bounce the ball and quickly pick up a jack and catch the ball all in one move. The goal is to get through and pick up all 10 Jacks at once. Sometimes, we would play the game of Pig Pen with jacks. Whatever game we played, Jacks was always one of our favorites.
When we got into junior high and high school, going to ball games, dances, and listening to the old 45 records was our idea of “fun.” We would hurry home from school to watch Dick Clark and American Bandstand and seeing if dancers Kenny and Arlene were still dancing together.
I worked during high school and got married about a year after graduation. My “fun” then included kids, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping and cleaning. The fun during those years was perhaps playing cards with neighbors or going to Bunco one night a week.
When our kids got into school our fun was taking them to various activities and watching them participate.
Of course, the older we get, we still like to have fun, but our idea of fun changes. I can’t jump rope anymore, I don’t want to play Jacks and the only game to play that interests me is probably Bingo. I also have fun playing piano and keyboard especially playing the old songs I grew up with. To me that is fun and it always has been.
Now my kids, grand kids and great grandchildren bring fun and joy to my life. There’s always fun and excitement to watch them grow.
But what happened to all those years? Where did they go? It seems as if they passed by so quickly.
However, I am thankful that even though my ideas of fun have changed over the years, I can still muster up the strength to holler “Bingo!”
Are you like me and had your ideas of fun changed? If so, what do you consider fun? Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for Your Thoughts!
