What Do I Do for Fun?

God intervened yesterday and helped me find a new friend.  I am so glad that I met this person, we have a lot in common so it makes conversations easy.  However, he asked me a question that stumped me (and made me a little sad because it stumped me).  What extremely hard question did he ask: What do you do for fun?

A very harmless question if you ask me.  I had to honestly answer, "That's a tough one for me."  Now, how SAD is THAT!  Shouldn't we all know what we do for fun?  But in retrospect I've had too much stuff going on to really pay attention. But now that I've had time to think about his question, here's what I do for fun:

*Playing Barbies with my daughter (even though this activity was considered cruel and unusual punishment when I was little until 3rd grade.  That's when Ken committed suicide off the Townhouse roof, and my sister wouldn't let me play Barbies with her after that.  But that's another blog entry entirely!)

*Exercising - not the let's build my muscles and compete.  But the "I'm going for a walk to relieve my stress" or do something with my kids kind of exercise.

*Going to museums.  I like the DMA, and the Nasher downtown.  There's this place in the Nasher museum that has what seems like a million origami birds dangling from the ceiling.  It's breathtaking.

*Art galleries.  I like the art museum in Ft. Worth, the Kimball.  I'm more of an impressionist type of person and don't really get the whole "abstract thing".  I like to know what I'm looking at because my brain says, "That's a pretty picture of a girl in a boat."  Not because the sign says, "Girl in a Boat" but my brain says, "Oooookaaaay.  Sure.  If you say so."

*Reading.  My sister just got me a Nook and I'm addicted.  I hope it's okay to be addicted to a book. 

*Puzzles.  I like doing the Dallas Commuter word puzzle because I know the words.  I don't do the New York Times because it makes me feel like an idiot, which I know I'm not.

*Laying in bed at night and listening to my daughter sing while she draws.  She totally makes stuff up but it's fun to listen to all the same.

*Hanging with friends - I've only been able to this more recently.  Whether it's going to the movies or staying at their house and talking.

*Movies - I like going to the movies with my kids, and friends.  I haven't been able to do that in awhile so it's fun to start doing it again.  Although, I'm shocked and awed with prices.

*Learning new things.  I try to learn one new thing a day.

*Writing.  whether it's journaling or writing stories. 

*Music concerts - not necessarily the Who's My Favorite Band concert, but symphony concerts.  The city in which I live has a symphony and it's fun to go listen to them in the summers outside the library.  I'd like to start going and hearing them at the Eismenn center here.  I also like the Dallas Symphony.

It's not much, but it's a start.  I'll keep paying attention to what I do for fun (I promise) and keep adding it to my list.

Now I know that on some of those you were probably thinking, "Boy I gotta tell you that sure does sound like FUN!" (and you may be thinking that in a totally sarcastic voice).  But this is what I think is fun, it's my list not yours.  So go make your own.  And I highly encourage you to make your own list.  Because when life gets crazy or throws you a curve ball, you can look at the list and be reminded about what is good about your life.