How old would you be if you did not know how old you were? -Satchel Pagie

Today after work I was five. I was on an adventure. I was meeting up with a friend and former co-worker to go hang out on the beach. Neither of us knew where we were going to meet up, we had an idea but the possibilities covered about 1/2 a kilometre of pathway. So thanks to cell phones we texted and got some ideas. But really it was my eyes that saw her cross my path no where near the place we kind of planned on. Then we realized the beach we were going to was a lot farther off than we thought. So we went to the beach near where we met up. There was change rooms there so I put on my swim suit and ran into the water. Then I rushed back. My friend said, "Well if that is all you were going to do I could have done that in my shorts." I laughed and said, "I forgot my goggles!!" I had to peel the stickers off of them because I had not used them yet. I rushed back to the water and bobbed around diving under the surface looking around at the seaweed and shells on the sandy bottom. I was having so much fun. This was pure play and I got to do it because my friend sat on the beach with my bike reading her book occasionally looking up to see if I was still there. If my friend was not there I would have worried that my things were not safe. I felt like I was five because she was there to let me be in the moment. That is what play does for a person it lets you be. As Early Childhood Educators we need to give ourselves a chance to just play, play without worry, play knowing someone has our back. Next time we go to the beach my friend will have her swimsuit and we can take turns being the responsible one and the one loosing themselves in the moment.