I Still Play

"Out to play..back later!"

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
~Mark Twain

As you can see, it takes e a while to pull me back from play! When I was a very very little girl (once upon a time ), I would wildly ( and I mean wild! Think arms flailing and a deafening woot woot!) run towards any playground in sight. Day or night, it didn't matter. The swing, the slide, the monkey bars were a magic world for me! Nothing and no one could wrench me free from the merry-go-round where I was practically, Queen of the Wind!

I played "house" with all seriousness, using little play clay stoves and clay pots to mix soil, water and dried leaves to cook ( pretend) stew. And of course, I meticulously set my play table with plastic plates, spoons and forks for four ( and extra in case a visitor drops by). My cat, Blackie, was very so often the only interested participant until he met a disastrous end, poor dear ( ooops, no! I had nothing to do with his demise) . I served him tea and milk ( real ) in tiny English tea cups so daintily printed with pink roses. For me, it was real..everything was real.

Do children today still play this way today? Do they still have paper dolls? Do they still have doll houses that aren't meant for a sexy Barbie? Do they still see things through the magic of imagination, seeing perhaps a pot roast when there are only twigs and barks?

Do they still see pink fairies and talk?

This may sound crazy, but I did talk to fairies. It was natural. Out there in my grandfather's garden, the garden of my youth, we were instructed to pay respect to the spirit of nature. We were not to just callously pick a fruit, but ask in whisper to the guarding spirit of a tree, then to thank for the bounty.

It was also natural for us to utter an, "excuse me, do step aside as I pass by for my human eyes cannot see your spirit majesty," as we pass through a dense path with many lush plants. Moreso, in a field or forest where diwatas (fairy goddesses) and encantos ( the enchanted ones) surely reside.

Today, I've seen 8 year olds talk into their cellphones and plug ears into their Ipods. What do they hear aside from the buzz of technology and Beyonce? Where is magic in that? Where is play, real play in computer games!? Where have all the fairies gone? Even the blood sucking Dracula has been pooh poohed into a type of cuddly comedy, his evil appeal replaced by " true to life" seriel killers and mass murderers.

Tsk'...It gets me worried. Me' thinks it's a sad world of the future we're looking into when childen no longer can see, what ought to be seen that is only from within. A revolution of play should be paved a way. Call the fairies back..call the elves...the friendly giants...the woman who lived in a shoe...