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The last two days have been filled with rain. (It’s weird how that sentence makes me want to break into any number of rain songs – Rain, Rain Go Away…or I’m Singing in the Rain…can you think of any others?) So, the little Doodle and I have been playing indoors  under umbrellas (yes, we pretend it’s raining inside and no, we clearly don’t believe it’s bad luck to open umbrellas in the house – knock on wood).

Yesterday, we made a Magic Paint Bag! (Thank you, First Art!)  It’s like a home-made Etch-a-Sketch. You put paint inside a zip lock bag, lay it flat on a piece of paper and use a dull object to make designs on it. I don’t really know who was more excited about this find.

It got me thinking about rainy days. When I was younger I’d play all sorts of invented games with my brother. I loved it. Now, I enjoy curling up with a good book or a journal and a huge pile of colored pencils and listening to the rain.

What were or are some of your favorite rainy day activities??

The other day I introduced my daughter to finger painting. I placed the tray of paint down in front of her and said, “Ok, let’s play. Go ahead, put your fingers in.” She looked at me like I was nuts. I’m fairly certain she was thinking, “Who are you and what have you done with my Mom?”

 A wild giggle escaped her lips as she put her hands in sparkly finger paint and then she gently touched the paper with yellow finger tips. Immediately, she screamed with delight and plunged her hands into the big pot of soapy water I had put out for her. She repeated this process more times then I can count before she started to try to lift the bubbles out of the pot and onto the paper. Would they stay bubbles on top of the paint on top of the paper? It was an idea that needed to be tested thoroughly. Once she was satisfied that she’d found the answer, her confidence increased and she asked to put her toes in. Well, that was the highlight of this first experience.

As I watched her, I was aware of the blood coursing through my veins, my breathing, even my own mortality. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want this to end,’ and then later, ‘I want to see her experience everything in life.’ I want to watch her face as her senses are stimulated and she discovers some new bit of magic in the world.

When I am with my daughter or using a new material to create or discovering a new way of telling a tale or grabbing a surfboard and going for it, I feel alive. I am filled with the same wild, giggling delight as my daughter. It’s so easy to get complacent; to think we know all. It’s hard to hold onto the childlike wonder and excitement we all have within but it’s necessary. It’s necessary for staying young at heart, adding joy to our lives and living the fullest life we possibly can. So I ask, when do you feel fully alive?

Now I know that in some parts of the U.S. the weather is still quite warm while in others snow has already fallen but here in the Northeast, Fall has officially arrived. There is a delicious chill in the air and rosy cheeks abound. I love this season with its colorful leaves and log burning fires (not that I have said fires in my little abode but I love walking the streets, sniffing out the buildings that do and then banging on the front doors of those dwellings with a bag of marshmallows and a smile that says, “Invite me in”.). And while I’m sure there are plenty of celebri – sorry famous people who are famous for doing nothing – that pray not to be in anything that shoots in NY this time of year so that they don’t have to don anything but their mini-mini’s and remain true to their “let’s all go commando” style, I simply live to throw on my jeans, cords, clogs and vests. I especially love this season because I get to wear my favorite “Grandma-esque” sweater.

I’m not even sure where I got the thing but I dig it. It’s not fashionable. You wouldn’t see me in this and think, “Oh that’s what I need in my life.” But when I put this on…well, let’s just say it’s the closest I get to that feeling when I am warm and snug under my comforter. And we all know I’m a woman who would wear my PJ’s around everywhere were it socially acceptable. To me, this sweater is happiness. It makes me think of hot cocoa, Central Park, earmuffs, close friends, and hot toddies (is that how you spell that?).

What’s that one thing you just can’t live without in Fall? What’s that one piece of clothing you wait each year to throw on; that one snugly piece of happiness?