The Experiment: Day 33 ~ Why You Need To Play With Friends, Even When You’re 63!

I have the most magical friend. Her name is Bekah. We met several years ago online and became dear friends. For a good bit of this time we have talked weekly on the phone for maybe 3 hours each call. She has been a lifeline, she has saved me more often than I can tell you, she is an angel in my life. Bekah is 36 and I am 63. She is a very special person because while she is much younger than me she is a very old soul. She loves things from the 1950’s, she is an artist and writer and so much more. And she has a wonderful blog at We Live Inspired. She has lifted me up and out of the darkness more times than I can count — I have things that Bekah has written to me when I was going through a really terrible time on a post-it note stuck to my computer — and I love her dearly. But last night we had a whole new experience, something we are going to continue to do. We are meeting again on Thursday, our usual night. Last night we met on Skype and we played with play-doh! We each have the exact set above. 8 tiny cans in the most glorious colors! It has lifted me up to the moon. And I’m blogging about it today and she is vlogging about it! Ha! We are kindred spirits for sure.

And the thing is, this is so important for me, and last night it helped her a lot too. My life has been very serious, and sad, for a very long time as I’ve battled terrible depression. But with the start of this 365 day project my whole life is changing. I blog here, I search for beauty and happiness in countless ways, I have changed my diet and am losing weight finally, and the missing piece, and so very important, I am learning how to play! Bekah and I also have lots of colorful construction paper and glue sticks and we are going to start to make collages and vision boards in our “Play time.” I am so excited I am squealing like a little girl! She makes me feel young again. My child’s heart, closed down long ago because of abuse, afraid to “play” for my whole adult life, is opening up. I am smiling, I am laughing, I am feeling joy. And oh how we laughed last night as we made our little figures, and playdoh bracelets, and Bekah made a fabulous little snowman with wings using tiny feathers from her sparrow, Trooper. Bekah was brought this tiny baby bird only a few days old and she saved her and now Trooper is famous online in videos! I made a blue playdoh woman with lime green hair sitting in an orange chair. We laughed and we laughed. And we squished playdoh — SUCH a stress reliever — and we SNIFFED playdoh. We LOVE the playdoh smell. It hasn’t changed since I was a child in the 1950’s! (And I found the most fascinating article today, about Hasbro trademarking the distinctive smell of playdoh.) And here’s something exciting to learn! For all of us who have loved the smell of playdoh for decades but never knew how to describe it, this is the way Hasbro, who invented playdoh in 1956, describes it… “It describes Play-Doh’s particular smell as “a unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.” I LOVE knowing that!

As you can tell by all the exclamation points in this piece I am feeling like an excited little kid today. And I can’t wait for my Thursday play-date with Bekah. And we’re going to keep playing and creating and making things and manifesting whole new beautiful, happy, JOY-FULL lives by playing together and talking together and being together as we long have.

And don’t tell me this isn’t possible for you! Bekah and I have sadly never been able to meet in person. We met online. She is in Michigan and I’m in North Carolina, but we have become the best of friends through this sometimes iffy medium and it is a friendship I will treasure my whole life long. If you are reading this blog you must have met and made friends with many people online. How about approaching them to talk on the phone and then perhaps Skype and have play dates? Or you could eat dinner together via Skype or knit or crochet together or have your own little reading club. Bekah and I do everything under the sun. And we shall continue. If you do this already with a friend I’d love to hear about it, and if you are moved to do so because of this blog post I’d especially love to hear about it. There’s no need to feel cut off and alone today. You can have dear friends and lots of fun via Skype. It will change your life!

I was so excited to share this with you today. I feel giddy and excited. Get yourself some playdoh and squish it and squeeze it and sniff it and make things with it. You’ll be so glad you did. And your Bekah is out there somewhere! Approach her (or him) now. I love the saying “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” Never too late indeed! Oh, and I was just texting with Bekah and I reminded her of this song. It made me laugh and she knew it too from when she was young. I’ll leave you with this…

It’s time to play! What are you waiting for?

 


The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: 
Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda

Comments

  1. Oh Maitri, what a wonderful idea to play on Skype or FaceTime! Why didn’t I ever think of this? There are so many things two or more people can do this way! I am so glad that you’ve been able to do this with a friend. Thank you for writing about this. If I do this I will share it with you.
    Love, Jean

    • Oh Jean you are so welcome! For me Skype or FaceTime has been wonderful to be in touch with my 2 children who live out of town with the grandbabies, but THIS is just for ME and it’s FABULOUS. Skype can be a little hinky and freeze up once in awhile but it all works out and after all these years Bekah and I have talked on the phone to SEE each other, and the insides of one another’s houses, and BE together, OH ME! It was so much fun! I can’t wait to see what you do. DO come and tell me all about it. And HAVE FUN!!! 😀

      • I have a dear online friend who lives in Sweden and we skype as often as she has time. I know I will never go there to meet her but if I was able I would. I hope she comes here someday.

        Jean

  2. Thank you for this uplifting, fun post. I am inspired.

  3. I have the most magical friend and her name is Maitri 🙂 . She is whimsical, and fabulous, and creative, and endearing, with a pure childlike spirit and a big loving heart. She is also a very talented writer and teacher! I am blessed to call her friend .

    Thank you for this post. I don’t know what to say to it, because it just touches my heat so .It is so inspiring too!! Like just reading it makes me feel inspired and excited and giddy. I bet lots of people will feel inspired too, and gain a unique perspective from it. It is sure to give people ideas. Maybe even create a playdoh revolution haha. We will continue to live joy FULLY no matter what the circumstances. And , play and giggle, and sniff play doh hahahahaah. But it smells so good! Love you <3

    • Oh sweet pea thank you SO much! If such things exist we have been friends through many lifetimes. And we’ve always had a good time together but I’m really looking forward to all the many times ahead of us, playdates and phone dates and whatever else comes along. And I’m kind of giddy and giggly too! He he he! It feels SO good to feel SO good! Thank you for that, a million billion times thank you… 😀

  4. Two of my favourite women having a play date? I’m grinning ear to ear. This is such a beautiful post and an invitation to all of us to PLAY. Wonderful!

    • Thank you so much Cathryn! We are having fun. And yes! We all need to play! It is so healing. Bekah is an angel and I love playing with her. Too bad you can’t play with us! We might have to figure something out! 😀

      • If Cathryn has skype and wanted to join us, that could be fun 🙂 What would happen if more people told stories and played with play doh LOL.

  5. What a small world! My newest son-in-law, Jake, is from Hillsdale,too! Wonderful for you both, may the Lord continue to bless your friendship.

    • Thank you so much Marge honey, and yes, small world! I appreciate you being here so much, it’s always so good to see you. 🙂

  6. Wow, very interesting. I did reach out and was rejected, so…there you go. But I’m glad you have her to play with.

    • Sheila honey, I’m so sorry that it didn’t work out for you. I know for me I have gone through many years not wanting to talk on the phone at all and still talk to almost no one besides my children and a couple of longtime friends. Often it’s a matter of timing, and sometimes a special rare person comes into your life that just easily slips into place, they feel like family. Bekah is my children’s age, she could have been one of my daughters. There was a kind of magic and I suppose you would say chemistry and timing is everything. I knew Bekah before the fire. My world has closed down considerably since then. I know many truly beautiful people online and I really enjoy our conversations online but for me, personally, the next step into my personal life and home is something that is just rarely ever going to happen except for business reasons which one can’t avoid.

      I hope you will try again with someone, there are many people out there that I’m sure you know. In my 63 years there have been many people I have shyly approached for friendship and it just didn’t work out for whatever reason. And yes, I was hurt and disappointed at the time but when you make that connection that feels like home you know it was worth waiting for. I wish you all the best…

      • I have other friends that I have connected with on the Internet and talk on the phone with. Then a couple of friends I’ve had for awhile (in real life…haha). I don’t want to say anything else that other people might read, so I’ll just say, I wish you all the best too.

        • Thank you so much sweet Sheila, and I wish you all the happiness, peace, and joy in the world. Blessings to you honey…

  7. Playdates are really fun ! Even on Skype or Facetime. I am so happy you have a friend to do it with.

    • Thank you so much Nolwenn, and yes, it was so much fun! Tomorrow night we will be doing collage and vision boards on construction paper. It’s like getting to be in kindergarten again, so much fun! I hope all is going well with you… 🙂

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