With the ins and outs of the daily grind, do you ever set aside time to be spontaneous?
Seriously, as much as I am passionate about living life to its fullest, getting older has its drawbacks. I’ve lost some of that spontaneous spirit that I used to thrive on, and I want it back.
So with only frozen pizza on the menu, I realized that tonight we would make a mundane moment magical.
Just changing scenery for meal time can make that memory happen, and it did.
Without spending an extra dime or anguishing over any preplanned details, I slipped the pizzas out of the oven, threw them on some trays, grabbed just paper plates, lemonade, chips and loaded up various children. 🙂
I really didn’t “have the time” to be spontaneous tonight, but I realize in the long run, I don’t have the time NOT to be.
I often forget that we have our own little treasure tucked away in the middle of our country living just 1/2 mile down the road.
Just because we don’t have a boat, jet ski or house on the lake, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it’s therapeutic effects.
Total Extra Cost? Nothing but a tiny bit of gasoline.
Total time? One hour
Spontaneous Memory Making? Forever…
You may not have a lake hidden down the road, but what spontaneous destination awaits you?
Share some of your brainstorming in the comments and see what one hour may open up in your family life this week or month.
A friend of mine shared a favorite memory. Her dad would pack them in the car with a picnic or snacks, hop on the highway and drive for just one exit. Then they’d find a fun place on the side of the road to picnic. Always someplace new, different and packed with memory making moments.
I love that…simple, intentional and fun.
It may be to just hop in your car for ten minutes and have your children (or spouse) direct you. Let them navigate your spontaneity and tell you left, right, go forward, back up and see where you end up.
I can’t wait to hear the result. 🙂
Until you said the cost was gas I thought that was YOUR back deck. I was going to say that I'd eat EVERY meal out there!
I love the view from your deck! That view is just a blessing. I would live out there all the time!
I'm with Julie, is that your deck? O.K. so, no. You had to drive to be at the lake. Those are great ideas. My favorite spontaneous thing is going to Culvers in our pajamas to get icecream. We do up the dishes and get ready for bed and then head into the car for a treat run.
How fun! When I was a kid, my mom would gather up our dinner and drive us 15-20 minutes to a campground where we would eat at a picnic table and play on the rocks & trees afterward. I need to keep the spontaneity thing in mind! 🙂
I love this idea! Every once in awhile when we were kids, my parents would stop for ice cream on Sunday afternoons after visiting my grandparents after church (weekly tradition). It was few and far between times, but I remember them all.
Great idea… love it and I am going to use it:) Thanks for the inspiration!
Blessings~
Such a well-timed post for me – I've been thinking about my (lack of) spontaneity this week. Thanks for the inspiration!
Great idea, Jenn…..we're sort of spontaneously planning….hey, with a teen, one HAS to plan around her schedule, right? Anyway, we are shaking things up a little on Saturday and going to see cirque de Soleil….gonna be fun!
Suzanne
Jen! Yes!! We're minutes from the beautiful Duke Gardens–how much extra time would it take to have dinner there?
I love the way you get us to stop and think about what we're doing. Thank you.
XOXO,
Richella
This is an excellent reminder that we have to infuse some spontenaity into our lives. Sometimes things are so busy that it's easy to get into a boring routine. Good for you for switching it up! (and good for you that pizza didn't end up face-down on the ground somewhere during your trip!) 🙂
What a wonderful dinner and memory for the kids. Every once in a while we will walk out of our neighborhood to Friendly's (when I have a coupon) and have ice cream for dinner. We do this when hubby is working extra late or is out of town. The girls (now tween/teen age) love it still and love to rat me out to their dad.
That's a wonderful idea to make dinner time fun and memorable. I have been setting our table this week to go along with the theme for dinner. Not that my daughter will eat much on the menu, but I'm hoping one day she'll get more adventurous and try more.
Have a lovely day.
Wonderfully inspiring post! Thanks a bunch.
We had a spontaneous moment this weekend. Hubby and I were out driving around the neighborhood we're trying to buy a house in. He saw a bridge and said I wonder where that bridge goes. I said let's go and off we went, driving across a one lane bridge through a park, down dirt roads. It was a blast and we found a place we didn't even know existed.
My husband recently suggested packing up dinner and walking to a playground by our house. I had prepared a nice meal, not picnic-friendly. But I ran around grabbing what we needed and off we went. While there we saw the closest, widest, most VIVID rainbow we've ever seen. If we'd been eating in our dining room we'd have missed it. Wasn't God kind?
What a view!! I love that you are a spontaneous mom…that is something I need to work on. 🙂 I love that you kept it simple instead of worrying about packing up a whole picnic basket of stuff. Good post, Jen! 🙂
What a great idea to spice up a ho-hum meal! My kids would love that, so I think I'll surprise them soon. (Does that mean I'm planning to be spontaneous? LOL!)
Wonderful idea!
I found your blog through a friend, Jenna. She goes to your church. I look forward to reading more!
You are a brave ole mom..you inspire me!
sandy toe
When I was little, we didn't have a lot of money, but we never knew that. My mom made all our clothes and our mom and dad would every now and then take us on something called "ventures." We always had fun on "ventures." Basically, my dad would have us all pile up in the car and he would just take us for a drive. Different place every time. Somewhere new we hadn't been. Sometimes we would even get a treat to McDonald's. LOL, it sounds silly, but eating out was big for us back then. I had so much fun on ventures when I was little, that we started that same tradition with our kids.