Rendevous With my Neighbor

    Is that a knob?  Oh, it's the cat!  Where is that teacup handle?  Yes!  There it is!  Conversations you would recently have overheard at my kitchen table.  You see, my neighbor, Libbi and I are moms like many of you. We have laundry to do, meals to plan, children to chase, schedules to arrange.  About a month ago, we decided to be rebels and chuck all that aside for a blissful hour here and a treasured hour there.   A text or two between us and a rendevouz was planned!  My kitchen table during naptime on a Sunday afternoon.  What awaited us?  A 550 piece jigsaw puzzle!  All adult size pieces.  :-)
     For 3 Sunday afternoons, she and I laughed together, talked together, puzzled together.  Neither of us could remember the last time we'd done a grown up puzzle.  And you know what?  We liked it!! Alot!  We had so much fun watching the picture slowly develop below our fingertips, one side ebbing forward and then the other.  First she finding the errant piece and then I.  When we got to the last 10 pieces, we lined them up in a row and had a grand countdown to celebrate.  We can't wait to do it again!
       I share this story with you this week to invite you to do the same....play!  Don't let the children have all the fun.  One of the most frequent comments we get from people is "I don't have any children."  or "My children are all grown up."  So?!  You need to play too!  Here's a few of about a billion articles you can use as frig art or slip into your boss' mailbox.

From the Huffington Post... 
     "Play isn't a character defect; it's the builder of character, developing persistence, competence, mastery and social skills that take us beyond perceived limitations."  

     "When it comes to beefing up your happiness, it's hard to do better than engaged play. Not only does it align you with your deepest needs and deliver fun in the moment, but the social component of play is a huge predictor of increased daily well-being, the research shows."

    "Studies show that playfulness can increase performance on the job and stoke creativity by breaking up the mental set that keeps us stuck. It resets the brain. "

From First Things First....
      "studies show that a life lived without play is at increased risk for stress related diseases, mental health issues, addiction and interpersonal violence."

       Dr. Brown author of Play!
      "But Dr. Brown's research began with a study of Charles Whitman, an engineering student at the University of Texas who climbed a tower and murdered 14 people. An examination of Whitman's past indicated that although he was a leading Eagle Scout, play was missing from his childhood, "systematically suppressed by a very aggressive, disturbed, and cruel father."
     "Brown subsequently accumulated the play history of 6,000 convicted murderers, car drivers who killed people, and Nobel Laureates. He also found that most of the memories of survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center were of play."


         My Toy Garden specifically carries lots of items to stimulate your brain to keep it young and healthy as well as add a giant dose of laughter to your days.  Don't let those children have all the fun! Stop by on your lunch hour or while the children are at school and play a game with us!