Among the common bird songs and calls of summer, only one truly makes a splash and it is one with which many of us are quite familiar.
Marco!
Momentary pause.
Polo!
This call and response makes a splash every summer in and around pools everywhere. And this summer staple pool game inspired plenty of laughter and splashing about for me and our girls not too long ago. Before that, it had been a few years since we had flailed our way around the inground pool blindly trying to tag another player and I cannot think of a better way to have spent a Friday afternoon with my teenagers.
As we planned our pool outing, I remember having a brief conversation with my oldest teen who wondered if perhaps she was too old for playing in the pool. Immediately, I shot down this idea, telling her that if she ever saw a group of teenage boys at a pool or the beach, she would realize pretty quickly that teenagers are definitely not too old for such splashy fun or play. I also told her plenty of adults indulge in swimming, diving, and frolicking play at the pool. Of course, to her, she believes that while grown ups can get away with such things, she isn’t always convinced the same holds true for teens. Fortunately, I was able to convince her otherwise.
In fact, after our afternoon of fun and games at the pool, I hope she and her sister feel freer to indulge in the things that bring them as much joy as a game of Marco Polo in the pool. I’m not sure how our teenagers come to believe they cross some kind of threshold that disqualifies them from the fun and joy of summer, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we talked about it in that brief conversation, I tried to assure her that even the teenagers who act like they are too sophisticated or grown up to participate in such childish silliness likely want to be free to do just that—to play, to splash, to enjoy a summer day with joyful abandon.
I think we do a disservice to teenagers when we don’t invite them into those moments with us. Fun, joy, delight, these are not suddenly off limits because we reach a certain age. Not only that, but there is a difference between being childish and being childlike. We are all invited to be childlike in our lives. Perhaps because it is when we are children, or childlike, when we are our most creative, when we are most free to dream of big things, and when we don’t see limits but possibilities.
To me, that game of Marco Polo was one of the best days we’ve shared this summer because of those very things. We were free to embrace delight and to laugh and to splash around in complete freedom. I love that my girls were willing to do that with me. I loved how much we laughed together. I love how much fun it was to close my eyes and seek them blindly, flailing my way through the shallow end and into the deep end. May none of us ever outgrow the desire to participate in the joys of summer or of life. Because, while the game requires one of us to close our eyes, to be the blind Marco searching for the others, I believe the experience actually opens our eyes to the possibilities available to all of us.