Thursday, December 01, 2005
'VIBING'
I had the pleasure of going home and spending Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in over 10 years including my sister Brie who hadnt made it for, believe it or not, 30 YEARS!! Incredible that it had been that long. Plus Flip my cousin made it in from Europe, so the good times were rollin.
Seeing my older sister Leslie reminded me that when we were itty bitty tykes, we received little Steiff animals from my cool uncle Guy. Over time, with this collection of much cherished characters, (some of the crew who can be seen above) Les and I created a virtual community with many scenarios taking place over the hours and hours and years of our early childhood. It was a blest time. Les's main character was a rabbit named Nicky, which eventually became an appropriate name for my daughter, considering the love that had been shared w/the original Nicky. (Excruciatingly, Nicky the rabbit was lost outside one day never to be found. But miraculously, Santa managed to have "found" her, "cleaned her up" and delivered her back by the next Christmas morning - lol.) My little buddy/alter ego was a dog named Bazzy and now that I think about it, I dont seem to remember Les naming any of her daughters after him. I'm tellin Mom!
Anyway what's interesting is what it taught both Les and me, and that was to be supportive. In order to successfully enjoy yourselves for hours on end, one of the important abilities that must be crafted is the ability to allow the circumstance with which you are involved (as in the created scenarios) to evolve. That means that the communication that is being created is oriented to maintaining the evolution - that the sense of "play" must be maintained in order for the enjoyment to continue. Once that ends, when the "vibe" is broken, the magic is gone.
Now as an adult, in terms of playing music, the advantage of this experience is obvious. In team sports, again, obvious. Your ability to sublimate your ego and be pro-actively aware of your band/team mates equates with the essence of team. Once the ego is introduced, the team feel is, to create a new term, "T.O.'d" (as in Terrell Owens)
But the not so apparent need for this is in our relationships, and especially our developing relationships. It's been shown that one of the major ingredients of successful marriages is the ability to play, and without it, love becomes lifeless and drab.
So friends, I say, go out and play. And when someone starts to have fun with you, take that as an opportunity to extend your joy by contributing to the fun - PICK UP THE BALL AND RUN WITH IT - it makes you even more enjoyable to be around.
ps - I almost called Les before she came up for TurkeyTime from Alabama to suggest we both bring our animals to see if we still had the magic.
But i got too busy......
Now aint that booooorrring?!?!
