Are we having fun yet?

Well, nobody's taking the T-bird away around here anytime soon.

At lunch on Thursday, I mentioned to C what I had been thinking lately: "We're not having fun." I thought he would tell me about how much fun we have together as a family and I was going to say that what we have is a joyful way of being and what I'm talking about is something different. But what he said was, "I know."

He went on to say that as two ordained ministers with demanding jobs, we aren't always very good at having fun ourselves or with each other. So we've been talking about that for three days now, culminating in long conversation at dinner and then later on a walk.

So what would be fun? Festivals are fun. Creativity is fun (that's Boo's contribution.) Dancing and hammocks and learning new things at a leisurely pace are all fun. Sampling all the food trailers in south Austin would be fun. Having a party would be super-fun (my contribution) but getting ready for it might not be. Going to someone else's party--with food, dancing and all our favorite people--would probably be more fun. Going for walks in interesting places--that was C's idea of fun--along with going to movies and listening to live music. He has tickets for Cage the Elephant in May so that will be fun for him and Mowgli. We're going to San Antonio for two nights later this month, which will also be very fun. Reading an interesting book together with all my friends and then talking about it--fun. Cooking something new for fun would be fun. (Cooking for my family at the end of a long day at work--not so fun.) Playing in the backyard with the kids in the kiddie pool and the sprinkler used to be lots of fun. Having all of us back together this summer will be fun, even just for a little while.

I've decided that we are really blessed that we all have such meaningful lives. I'm truly grateful. But what I'm really craving these days is fun . . . and committing to step outside the productivity routine a little bit to find it.