For me, there is “little fun” and “big fun.” Little fun encompasses the small things that make me laugh and feel joy every day - chatting with my co-workers at the lunch table, or taking a decadent bite of the one Cadbury Egg I allow myself each spring. Big fun would be the whirlwind of activities my daughter and I shared this weekend…..visiting the bookstore R.J. Julia down in Madison, discovering each ice sculpture in Olde Mistick Village, mocking the new Wuthering Heights movie.
Your fun sounds like my kind of fun, especially the noticing. It is often the little fun that is available to us all that brings the most joy. That and a good belly laugh!
We had two of our grandchildren overnight. We went from tea party to an outdoor spy game devised by them to a dance party. That was all fun. Then I needed a nap.
Wow - I want to come next time! Dance parties are the best. I was just at the gym (Type 2 fun) and noticed that I was grooving to the music between reps. Unexpected fun - yay!
The pics are amazing!! Are these from the official Susan Kietzman archive? You clearly invented fun and there’s nothing better than a giggle together. Absurd fun always!
I got my first job at age 14. I have worked, been in school or both for the past 50+ years. I loved working and the sense of accomplishment. I am surprised by how well I have adjusted to retirement. I love the freedom to do what I want when I want. I am fortunate to have friends that love to be outside in all kinds of weather biking, hiking, skiing, forest bathing. I am resisting the temptation to make myself useful through volunteering and instead trying to enjoy this time in my life while I am still able to be physically active. I am bored sometimes but I am a much calmer, less stressed version of myself and I like that.
Grace, I love being outside with you. And I love that you are resisting the temptation to "make yourself useful." This IS a time to enjoy life, after many decades of working - and I whole-heartedly encourage you to keep doing what you're doing - and to bring me along for the ride whenever you can!
For me every day has to have at least an ounce of fun: Getting down on my hands and knees to taunt my little dog, having a spontaneous conversation with a neighbor on the elevator, playing a game of Uno before the work day starts, or the crossword puzzle during a brief lunch break, FaceTiming with a friend, day dreaming about what retirement will be like or visiting with old friends by a roaring fire sipping a martini, no cost entertainment that allows me to value my life. Thanks for sharing Susan!
A most enjoyable read, Susan. I was there with you the entire read.
I like to have fun and gaffaw with my teenage grandsons. We make up games or play silly games like Poetry of Neanderthals. And then there are the precious times I get together with my high school friends when we revert to giggling teenagers. A MUST every few months.
I was thrilled when my babysitting salary increased from 50 cents/hour to 75 cents/hour. The glorious 60's...
Poetry of the Neanderthals? I'm intrigued! Those who knew us when are increasingly important as we age. My old friends don't cut me any slack, in the best of ways. We dish it out, and we take it! Babysitting now is fairly lucrative. The going rate is more than $20/hour, finally!
Tommy, you have always knows how to have fun, which is one of your best qualities. And I seem to remember you packing some liquids in a cooler for the beach...
The need to produce is part of my DNA. I hear you when you say that even doing fun things often comes with its own goal (exercising is fun but you're also trying to stay fit). But anything that sparks a sense of awe counts as fun for me, such as witnessing a perfect V of geese up in the sky, or noticing the tiny crocuses popping up in the middle of February. (Don't get me started on our warm, dry winter.) Feeling the wind on my face when riding a bicycle is fun. But sometimes the production angle is itself fun: the satisfaction of a neatly folded basket of laundry (I'm not kidding you here), or looking at 2 loaves of freshly baked bread and inhaling the aroma. Or knitting. Especially knitting!
Elisabeth, I like the idea of awe as fun. It happens in nature all around us all the time. Seeing a sunrise is, for me, fun, no matter how many I've seen before because they are all different. I'm glad you get a kick out of laundry. And one of these days, I'm going to try knitting...if I can just sit still long enough.
Ice skating! Did you do anything fancy or just cruise around the pond? And yes to all the things you enjoy, especially granddaughter conversation time.
That's such a solid point - on the other side of the storyline of be born, be a kid, be a teenager, college, single with job (could even be a job selling skiis and clothes), married, married+kids....then it gets more vague... 'retired' 'kids out of the house' grandparenthood.. whatever happens out there in the ether... Out there in that (this) territory there is more time, like earlier in the run there was more time. One thing that is wrecked beyond repair is sleep after kids so that's not coming back. I remember waking up on Saturday morning and remembering no school! So go back to sleep for another hour ahhhh. And then go charging outside hello World! Don't even mention Snow Day, that will never be touched again and don't even dangle that one here. I have had these moments over the past few years where somehow the entire set of feeling tones of excited fun have passed through me (for odd unidentified reasons, driving in my car somewhere...other...) and it was the whole package, physical, biochemical, some kind of interior emotional/mental mode - it was like visiting another world that I use to be in some number of times a week or some kind of weather. I'm trying to catch it in moments now like aha .. but then it's a different word not the full experience. It might be something we only really get as part of those age groups
I understand those feeling tones because I have had them myself, and often in the car! It may be a song on the radio that takes me back to another time - and I am quite suddenly euphoric. It happens in the grocery store too, again with music. I’m brought back to a time that was less troubled, more carefree. And that? It’s FUN!
Great post! I've spent a couple days pondering it. I can relate to, and also enjoyed, the early phases of fun you describe. I see a big difference in the kind of fun I had before and after becoming an adult - loosely described as graduating from college and getting a real job. After becoming an adult the fun was much more structured and scheduled - such as sports or games.
The pre-adult fun looks magical to me now, and I would like more of it! Pre-adult fun has lots of imagination and creativity (fearlessly making it up as you go along) combined with openness, curiosity, and vulnerability. I want this kind of fun and I have to get past my " adult" persona of productivity and maturity.
For me, there is “little fun” and “big fun.” Little fun encompasses the small things that make me laugh and feel joy every day - chatting with my co-workers at the lunch table, or taking a decadent bite of the one Cadbury Egg I allow myself each spring. Big fun would be the whirlwind of activities my daughter and I shared this weekend…..visiting the bookstore R.J. Julia down in Madison, discovering each ice sculpture in Olde Mistick Village, mocking the new Wuthering Heights movie.
Your fun sounds like my kind of fun, especially the noticing. It is often the little fun that is available to us all that brings the most joy. That and a good belly laugh!
There’s nothing like a good belly laugh! And for the record, my babysitting fee in the ‘70s was also a dollar an hour.🙂
And I can remember getting paid for 60-hour weeks in the summers. Those weeks were distinctly not fun - though the kids were a blast!
We had two of our grandchildren overnight. We went from tea party to an outdoor spy game devised by them to a dance party. That was all fun. Then I needed a nap.
Wow - I want to come next time! Dance parties are the best. I was just at the gym (Type 2 fun) and noticed that I was grooving to the music between reps. Unexpected fun - yay!
The pics are amazing!! Are these from the official Susan Kietzman archive? You clearly invented fun and there’s nothing better than a giggle together. Absurd fun always!
Giggling is the best - and you are one of my favorite co-gigglers!
That “two kinds of people” addendum sounds like an ad for Metamucil.
Who’s having fun now?
I got my first job at age 14. I have worked, been in school or both for the past 50+ years. I loved working and the sense of accomplishment. I am surprised by how well I have adjusted to retirement. I love the freedom to do what I want when I want. I am fortunate to have friends that love to be outside in all kinds of weather biking, hiking, skiing, forest bathing. I am resisting the temptation to make myself useful through volunteering and instead trying to enjoy this time in my life while I am still able to be physically active. I am bored sometimes but I am a much calmer, less stressed version of myself and I like that.
Grace, I love being outside with you. And I love that you are resisting the temptation to "make yourself useful." This IS a time to enjoy life, after many decades of working - and I whole-heartedly encourage you to keep doing what you're doing - and to bring me along for the ride whenever you can!
I love this! I also love that I learned a new activity “forest bathing” – a really cool practice.
I'm fully engaged in forest bathing and had no idea. It's the best!
For me every day has to have at least an ounce of fun: Getting down on my hands and knees to taunt my little dog, having a spontaneous conversation with a neighbor on the elevator, playing a game of Uno before the work day starts, or the crossword puzzle during a brief lunch break, FaceTiming with a friend, day dreaming about what retirement will be like or visiting with old friends by a roaring fire sipping a martini, no cost entertainment that allows me to value my life. Thanks for sharing Susan!
Hey - I like all these things! And you don't even need a credit card - nicely done, Margot! Adding value to our lives is so important, especially now.
A most enjoyable read, Susan. I was there with you the entire read.
I like to have fun and gaffaw with my teenage grandsons. We make up games or play silly games like Poetry of Neanderthals. And then there are the precious times I get together with my high school friends when we revert to giggling teenagers. A MUST every few months.
I was thrilled when my babysitting salary increased from 50 cents/hour to 75 cents/hour. The glorious 60's...
Poetry of the Neanderthals? I'm intrigued! Those who knew us when are increasingly important as we age. My old friends don't cut me any slack, in the best of ways. We dish it out, and we take it! Babysitting now is fairly lucrative. The going rate is more than $20/hour, finally!
It’s a game found at Target (ugh!)
Great Read, and so very very True !! What’s this about packing up for the beach ? Someone STILL does this for me, some kind of magic I suppose 🙂 …
Tommy, you have always knows how to have fun, which is one of your best qualities. And I seem to remember you packing some liquids in a cooler for the beach...
The need to produce is part of my DNA. I hear you when you say that even doing fun things often comes with its own goal (exercising is fun but you're also trying to stay fit). But anything that sparks a sense of awe counts as fun for me, such as witnessing a perfect V of geese up in the sky, or noticing the tiny crocuses popping up in the middle of February. (Don't get me started on our warm, dry winter.) Feeling the wind on my face when riding a bicycle is fun. But sometimes the production angle is itself fun: the satisfaction of a neatly folded basket of laundry (I'm not kidding you here), or looking at 2 loaves of freshly baked bread and inhaling the aroma. Or knitting. Especially knitting!
Elisabeth, I like the idea of awe as fun. It happens in nature all around us all the time. Seeing a sunrise is, for me, fun, no matter how many I've seen before because they are all different. I'm glad you get a kick out of laundry. And one of these days, I'm going to try knitting...if I can just sit still long enough.
Ice skating was my most fun activity as a kid. Today, I enjoy reading, museums and talking with my granddaughters.
Ice skating! Did you do anything fancy or just cruise around the pond? And yes to all the things you enjoy, especially granddaughter conversation time.
I was an endurance skater. I stayed out on the pond as long as I could.
Now that tracks!
That's such a solid point - on the other side of the storyline of be born, be a kid, be a teenager, college, single with job (could even be a job selling skiis and clothes), married, married+kids....then it gets more vague... 'retired' 'kids out of the house' grandparenthood.. whatever happens out there in the ether... Out there in that (this) territory there is more time, like earlier in the run there was more time. One thing that is wrecked beyond repair is sleep after kids so that's not coming back. I remember waking up on Saturday morning and remembering no school! So go back to sleep for another hour ahhhh. And then go charging outside hello World! Don't even mention Snow Day, that will never be touched again and don't even dangle that one here. I have had these moments over the past few years where somehow the entire set of feeling tones of excited fun have passed through me (for odd unidentified reasons, driving in my car somewhere...other...) and it was the whole package, physical, biochemical, some kind of interior emotional/mental mode - it was like visiting another world that I use to be in some number of times a week or some kind of weather. I'm trying to catch it in moments now like aha .. but then it's a different word not the full experience. It might be something we only really get as part of those age groups
I understand those feeling tones because I have had them myself, and often in the car! It may be a song on the radio that takes me back to another time - and I am quite suddenly euphoric. It happens in the grocery store too, again with music. I’m brought back to a time that was less troubled, more carefree. And that? It’s FUN!
Great post! I've spent a couple days pondering it. I can relate to, and also enjoyed, the early phases of fun you describe. I see a big difference in the kind of fun I had before and after becoming an adult - loosely described as graduating from college and getting a real job. After becoming an adult the fun was much more structured and scheduled - such as sports or games.
The pre-adult fun looks magical to me now, and I would like more of it! Pre-adult fun has lots of imagination and creativity (fearlessly making it up as you go along) combined with openness, curiosity, and vulnerability. I want this kind of fun and I have to get past my " adult" persona of productivity and maturity.
Yes to all of the above. I want more of it, too!