I just read an account by a woman who found herself cavorting in the cool drops of a sprinkler on a hot summer day in Washington, D.C. You can read the story here. She was a little chagrined at first, wondering what passersby and neighbors might think as she got wetter and wetter, but in the end found that this excursion into childlike wonder and joy provided a great lift to her spirit.

Her story brought back memories of my own childhood, where playing in the sprinkler was the only way to be cool on hot summer days. And I remembered the time my dad took us kite flying in the middle of the day. And it brought back the memory of the time my brother and I played in mud puddles with great abandon—soaking our shoes and our clothes with muddy water—much to my mother’s chagrin. But it was such fun.

The problem with adulthood is that we get so serious. The responsibilities of job and family seem to rob us of the ability to engage in spontaneous and silly fun. We are, after all, productive people with serious business to attend to. We forget about playing in the sprinkler or making mud pies. We aspire to the neat and orderly rather than random, fun messiness.

In so doing we miss the spirit lifting opportunities that fun and play provide. Working with older adults is a serious business and there are serious issues that we navigate with them each and every day. We need to do that. But I also think we need to allow space in our lives for fun and play, for wonder and joy.

My memories of summer fun seem to involve water, ice cream, watermelons, music and games. What are your memories of summer fun? How can you find some fun this summer? And how can we encourage summer fun for the elders we serve so that all of us will have at least one moment of childlike wonder and joy?

— Nancy Gordon, CSA director