The Fun Gene.

My Mom has what we, her children, call "The Fun Gene".
aaaand, she gave it to us.
Genetically speaking, it's probably one of the best genes a Mom can pass on to her children.
(That is a matter of opinion, I suppose.)

My mom has taught me how to enjoy life, and look for the good in it.  I hadn't realized until recently how rare it is to have a Mom that takes her children out in a blizzard to do donuts in the elementary school parking lot, or how thankful I am for it.  I've also come to realize that I have a varying motivations for different parts of my life, but lately my "Appeal to fun" has manifested itself.

For example... yesterday we were at my parents cottage and Josh asked me if I wanted to go swimming.  I didn't really want to because I was quite comfortable.  The air was the perfect temperature with the perfect breeze, I had just straightened my hair that morning, and my bathing suit takes a long time to dry so I said, "eh, I don't think I want to swim."

His response was, "Is it because you don't want to get your hair wet?"

(me: "No!" He knows me too well!)

Josh: "It would be funnnn! Come on, this could be the last day of the summer to go swimming together.  I'm going with or without you but it would be better with you."

The appeal to fun got me, and we got a running head start off of the dock (in hopes that Buddy would chase us and then jump in after us.. which he did not) and with two splashes we were swimming!

Do you have something that motivates decisions for you?  Did you get the Fun Gene? Now I must be honest, if my appeal to fun was the only thing that I based decisions on I would be a much different person than I am today.   But in the right situation, it can motivate me rather quickly to be quite silly.

Example #2:  Last week, the Kent County Youth Fair was in town.  There is a ride there called The  Zipper.  As a youngster, my sister Lindsay and I would ride it tirelessly.  As I've gotten older though, logical thoughts like, "Hmmm.. they put that thing together in a few hours?" prevented me from going on it at all.  Lindsay is in town, though, and we both have the fun gene and the zipper was looking so inviting that, despite our better judgments, we decided to go on it.  It exceeded my expectations for a good time!  I was a sweaty, almost-late-for-work mess because of it, but the experience with my sister was absolutely worth it.

So anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to my beautiful Mom for passing on her passion for life (aka the Fun Gene) to me and my brothers and sisters.

Here are a few pictures of our experience on the Zipper :)

Seriously, that thing can not be safe.