Play Therapy

I was in the middle of an insanely busy period at work, gearing up for a conference where more than 6000 of my company’s customers and business partners would “come together to reset the pace for innovation.” There would be world-renowned keynotes! World-famous entertainment! And world-class education value! All in the exciting city of Las Vegas! One of my colleagues and I were preparing to run a booth and were politicking to find opportunities to promote it within corporate confines.

“That ought to be a fun getaway!” one of my well-meaning friends offered, when I lamented that I still needed to make travel plans, order new business cards, and tie up some childcare loose ends.

“This isn’t a vacation! I’ll be working the whole time and probably won’t ever leave the hotel. And my regular work isn’t gonna go away…” I huffed, feeling Dilbertesque.

One evening as I scanned the next day’s calendar, I saw that I had “Reading in Ms. So-and-so’s class.” I was at the point where I was cutting bait on all things non-essential to the conference. But there was no way I could cut that.

I was due in the classroom at 12:30. I had blocked my calendar 15 minutes early so I could walk to school. At least I’ll get some exercise. But no – I crammed one more to-do into my morning and wound up driving the half mile to school, sprinting to the office to sign in, and race-walking to the classroom since “there’s no running in the halls.”

Crossing the classroom threshold, I stepped into chaos of another sort – happy, hopeful, exuberance. My middle son’s face lit up when we locked eyes, and I shrugged off my corporate cloak. My role was to sit with and moderate the kids on the floor, listen to Ms. So-and-so while she read a book, and then facilitate a game with groups of four to six kids, as they rotated through several different reading-related activities.

I have always been amazed and inspired by Ms. So-and-so’s patience. She was my oldest son’s teacher last year and I have never seen her lose her cool or be judgmental. She has the equanimity of my friend’s GPS receiver, Nathalie. My friend won’t drive without Nathalie: “If I make a wrong turn she doesn’t say anything – she simply re-routes my travel and never lets on that I have made a mistake. She is kind and loving and knows I can be a bit slow sometimes. She is so understanding.”

It was all I could do to manage the game and the children. Their concerns about how to spell four letter words were interspersed with who was their best friend that day, what was for hot lunch, and whether they might have indoor or outdoor recess. There were no hidden agendas and it was easy to forgive their tactlessness. My job was momentarily irrelevant.

I left the classroom that day channeling Ms. So-and-so’s patience and political-correctness, as I prepared to embrace the opportunity for a business trip.

After all, I’d be able to eat grown up food, socialize with other adults (some of them colleagues that I had worked with for two years but never met face-to-face), and enjoy some world-famous entertainment – all in the exciting city of Las Vegas!