Silliness is a wonderful word to describe the opportunity to be a child even when you are long past childhood. Many comedians have made their careers on being silly, elevating it to an art. Anyone can be silly though. And once someone in the group starts it, the behavior is contagious until everyone is engaged. Today at work was one of those precious times, when silliness did her dance and we all joined in. It started innocently enough with a gift of bubbles in a ice cream cone bottle. The bubbles smelled like mint ice cream. Somewhere along the day, as complex issues threatened to stretch that last nerve, the bubbles came out and the colorful minty joie wafted over and around us. Someone said something that tickled one of us, which started a burst of silliness. Our cubicles entertained a fine moment of laughter.
When we turned back to our computers, the scent was still in the air, and the joy that bubbled up stayed present for the rest of the afternoon. One conscious joyful act began another. It is no accident when we are suddenly surrounded by joie, it all starts with one person. Can it be you?
Remember the bubbles I won at the Game place in Cincinnati we went to while Dad was in ICU? I had them in my purse going through TSA at the airport on the way home (yes, the same purse that didn't have my driver's license in it so I had to use my Disneyland Annual Passport as "photo ID"). TSA saw it on the machine and asked to search my purse. When the lady pulled out the bottle (shaped like police officer, so maybe she identified), she declared it was "too cute to confiscate." She opened the bottle -- probably risking her life and everyone else's if I had been a real terrorist instead of someone who was being silly while her father had open heart surgery. I could see her wondering if she dared, you know, blow. She thought better of it, in the end, and recapped the bottle and today it sits proudly in my office. I use bubbles alot, when things get a little funky in there. Life with a laugh track is a big improvement.
ReplyDeleteI love bubbles! For a short time I considered going to Bubble University with this Las Vegas crazy who can blow square bubbles. Whoa. Glad that phase passed, but I still carry bubbles with me in the car and when things get stressful on the road I send some bubbles out to my neighboring cars and hope to cool the tension.
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