imagination

it's always nice to be a kid from time to time. yes, a kid. a baby at heart or a tot. hehehehe!

well, i had fun time with my niece, izhi, the past holidays. from liezl and ate she's stories, izhi likes to run things from her own "little" point of view. since she's the baby of the house, she'd always direct all the people to do crazy stuff such as sing barney songs or imitate animal moves. she's the only one who can make papa move or get up from his beloved bed, even do splits in front of other people. she likes to get other people dressed in funny ways, but rarely does she make herself the clown so to speak.

when i was at home, she concocted an idea of us in a jungle, where she was stuck in a huge tree. while we were having our nth serving of tita jo's caldereta, the inglisera just shouted, "tito nonoy, help me. i'm stuck in a tree!" of course, the kid in me obliged. i was just so happy to be fully imaginative and pretend that we're really in a jungle, surrounded by huge trees, when in fact, the tree was just the christmas tree! upon rescuing her from the "monster" tree, i brought her to the hospital, which was just the long sofa (kunwari!), got her to lie down and call the doctor. the doctor in this instance was our very own malambing na askal, mommy lupe. then, we bought some medicines from the drugstore (our altar), and went home (home is our balkonahe). this was pretty much the script. then, izhi would go back to the christmas tree, will blurt out, "help me, tito nonoy! i'm stuck in a tree!", then we'll do the drill all over again. we did the whole routine for about 5 times.

and then, the boss in me noticed that this director tot isn't going to be tired of the drill anytime soon. so for me to still enjoy playing, the leo (read: leader) in me added in my own ideas and some scenarios! after going to the hospital and going home and getting rest, i initiated that we needed to prepare breakfast and prep ourselves up for the upcoming out-of-town trip. we rode the tricycle (which was the smaller sofa) to get out of our village, paid the driver, before boarding a jeepney. izhi would always pay the driver even if i forgot that part already. then, we reached the beach! yes, at this point, i added in a beach. we'll dive and swim (of course, complete with all the swimming actions), that is after applying sunblock lotion and all! kumpleto! then, izhi added the idea of a boatride. after swimming for what seemed to be hours, we'll head to an island, where our "original" jungle is located. there, izhi will get "stuck in a tree" again, will be rescued by me, we'll go to the hospital, she'll be treated by doctor lupe, she'll buy medicines, then we'll go home. after that, the story goes back to where we started.

it was fun. especially when the leader in izhi insisted that we trade places after one go. what will happen is that i'll be stuck in the tree and izhi will do rescuing. after going thru the cycle several times, she added a "cellphone" scene. when she gets stuck in a tree, instead of just crying for help, she'd dial her cellphone (but that was our landline phone!) and call me to ask for help! wahahahahaha!

i enjoyed it, really. when you're a kid, pure fun won't be prevented by missing out integral props or other visual aids. pure imagination can work wonders! you don't have to spend so many hours figuring out how things will work because eventually, all the pieces of ideas will be fused together to make a long narrative. you don't have to be serious at all. you can let loose and play for all it's worth. i was able to practice some of my childish but creative ideas, away from the usual "creative" endeavors either to write a document or prepare slide decks. what seems to be foolish becomes an enjoyable activity, kids really know how to get good fun. this just goes to show that for most part, we all will always be a kid at heart. what's important is that we know how to draw the line between reality and imagination, and that we know our roles and responsibility. happy new year!