Extension of Our Hands

Yesterday was a hot, dry day, perfect for a fun filled day at the waterpark. We packed up the beach towels, grabbed the water bottles, sunscreen, and hats and headed out. Our little town doesn’t have a water park with the big slides and “toilet bowl” ride (the one where you are on a tube and you shoot out of a funnel slide into a big “bowl”, but a few hours south of us there is one. So we left early in the morning and got there right at opening, with our handy dandy phone to tell us how to get there. Before we left though, my son came to me with an idea on how we could keep our phones with us and keep them dry in the process. Though the idea was good, I vetoed it letting him know we all could last a day without our phones attached to us.

And so we did. We paid for our tickets got our lockers and proceeded to place phones, towels, and basically anything other than water into the locker (we lathered up first with sunscreen, so as to not cook our skin off our bodies). We found our inner tubes and followed the lines up to the top of the slides, and within seconds were down at the bottom pools ready to go again. We soon realized that the slides that didn’t require the tubes were much more fun and had faster lines to go through. This whole time there was not a thought about the time and who posted what on one of the social outlets. Even my sister commented on how strange it was that we are so trained to check our phones that when we don’t have them it feels awkward, but here we were killing it as a family without phones.

Some people might say, “well what if someone had to get a hold of you?” or “you missed out on taking pictures to remember your day”. This is true, and I didn’t get all the pictures I wanted to get, and my friend who let my dogs out did text me while I was playing, but I still preferred not having my phone. I got to race my eldest daughter down the slides, just to reach the bottom in time to see her catch air. I got to splash my middle child in the face because she thought it was so funny to get water on my sunglasses for the tenth time. My youngest and I did the roaring rapids slide enough times that I lost my hat and glass at the bottom of the pool (I got my glasses back later, and my hat ended up floating to the surface). My hubby and I saw each other in passing and at lunch when we met to eat, but we were both having fun with the kids so we knew it was worth it. We ended our day with a family hug for my sister (she had to leave early since she had a longer drive home), and ice cream and Icee’s to cool us before climbing into the hot car for the ride home.

Our phones survived the day too, they probably didn’t even miss us, lol. It was so nice to be disconnected. Our kids were not stuck in “zombie land” staring at their phones watching other people have fun. We got to be kids together. We managed a few pictures before my sister left but for the most part the memories we made are not ones that were photo saved to be shared on a social platform, instead they will be ones that are talked about at the dinner table. They will be remembered the next time we do something similar as a family. They will be core memories, are good reminders that family times are so important. This is living joyfully. When the extension of our hands become someone else’s hand, or us holding on to our hats so they don’t fly off as we fly down the slide. There are so many times in which I go down “wish lane” wishing I was around more for my family vs. being busy else ware, but what this does is add guilt to a place where guilt isn’t needed. Doing activities with your family and friends means making time to do it. It can mean setting the phone down and getting out, but the rewards of making the time are awesome. My family and I were exhausted by the time we got home, but the consensus was that we had fun and we were defiantly doing more family activities again soon. Until next time:

The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements, but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem.

Walt Disney