“Play is the highest form of research.” ~ Albert Einstein
The first six years of my life, I lived in Mexico. I was poor but didn't know it. There were some hints though. My hands, void of lotion, often dried and chapped during the winter months. I owned one pair of good shoes, which I could only wear to school or to the city. So, I spent a lot of time barefoot on the farm.
Having limited toys, I climbed trees, kicked up dirt and sculpted mud houses. I had fun and laughed a lot. But not always. Begrudgingly, I also ran errands barefoot. The hot dirt hurt! When going out for milk, finding relief in small patches of grass (amidst the hot dirt) was a challenge.
In addition to sparingly wearing my good shoes, I also knew not to wear nice school clothes around the house. So, I spent a lot of my outdoor playtime in raggedy clothes or simply in t-shirt and underwear...no one really cared back then.
As an adult, a funky childhood memory visits my mind recurrently. I recall a springtime day, pausing during outdoor play, turning toward my right and gazing at a large mound of loose dirt. I took to daydreaming, fantasizing about putting on a white pair of pants and rolling around in that dirt. The thought invigorated me. It was quite enticing. Diving into that dirt would be unthinkable, and a little crazy. Aaah, the luxury!
I think we all have white pants moments - those times when we get an impulse to do the impractical, the illogical. We may experience those moments when we crave to partake in wild, reckless, SEMI-destructive behavior - behavior that would not necessarily change the core of who we are, or wreck someone's world. These escapades would simply provide an opportunity to exhale, to release suppressed emotions or energy. And we all need those, right?
These white-pants moments don't necessarily have to be bucket list items. They can rest on a smaller scale, with a zest of mischief and indulgence. So, what are some of YOUR white-pants moments? Maybe they include: eating a whole pizza; consuming a half gallon of ice-cream; running naked in your back yard, or walking in the rain and letting your mascara run.
Who knows, maybe you've already indulged in plenty of white-pants moments (WPMs). If you did partake, I say it's okay. WPMs allow us to stretch out our arms and yawn out the doldrums of life, before settling and snuggling back into conformity. It's confetti for the soul. Mischief can help us stay young at heart, as concurred by R.C. Ferguson:
“A man is getting old when he walks around a puddle instead of through it.”
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