Loved this and resonate—not the fun one and okay about it! But what I would like a lot more of? Mischief. My word for 2025. Will report back 😎 still can’t get over your chicken photo shoot!
I really like this but I’m not exactly sure what my fun thing is! Maybe it’s just sitting at a cute pub and talking to my friends for way longer than we should as moms with children at home?
There’s still group of moms at our K-8 that have been getting together weekly+ to learn to skateboard and eat and drink together (“urmomskates.fl”). I think it’s the most badass thing ever and I love them for it. I’ve considered joining even though I’ve never desired to skate but because I appreciate their pursuit of fun and friends 🛹
OK pub hangs with friends are 100% fun zone. And a beginner’s skateboarding moms group?!This is the stuff of dreams! I love them so much for it. You definitely need to go at least once. (And please spill the tea in the subscriber chat afterwards haha)
I’m not sure if I am the opposite but I never would describe myself as fun but recently people have said it to my face. So i think it’s crept up on me while I wasn’t looking and I’m delighted!
Shannon, first, I agree with the incredulous here at the idea of you as “not fun.” But the bit you got into at the end about wanting… it brought me into Advent. Listened to the Hark! Podcast from America about O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and one of the interviewees emphasized the sense of LONGING that advent is meant to observe/evoke. This idea of fun is so of a piece with all your work- inviting me to think about what I let myself want, or long for, and how tight a lid I’ve kept on my longings for the first 37 years of my life. Yes, I long for a savior, for justice, for peace. And I long to embrace the things I love - like ice skating and Zumba and romance novels and circles of strong women forming strong community.
I did not have an Advent tie-in on my bingo card but I am here for this one. The element of longing is absolutely a part of this that resonates with me. It was cool to read that you really draw that from a lot of my work, because it really is a dominant theme of my writing - precisely bc it's been such a huge shift in my life. I am 100% with you in the wide scope of the longing. Peace and justice, yes. And also frivolity and camaraderie and the occasional crude humor. 😆
You and Teresa of Avila ❤️🔥 Also, I would scrape and save to go on a domestic pilgrimage of fun with you! Thinking like one of those European pilgrimages with an influencer but instead we hit up Red Rocks, do lectio and Karaoke, visit Indie bookstores and shrines. #justsayin
I love this, Shannon! Enneagram 7 here so fun has always been a life value but I’d say I’ve become more comfortable with it in the past 10 years :) also the thing about mom friends that we just tolerate is so real🙃
Definitely leaning more into “want to” and not just “have to” at 46. There’s something to saying it’s okay for me to have fun and that even as a mom, it isn’t exclusively watching my kids have fun. It’s okay for us to do things together as a family and also not together, but this is something I’ve had to learn.
I read the first line and thought, “liar—she is the most fun.”
luh u
Loved this and resonate—not the fun one and okay about it! But what I would like a lot more of? Mischief. My word for 2025. Will report back 😎 still can’t get over your chicken photo shoot!
Ummm mischief for a word of the year??? Then you are not allowed to say you are not fun!
I really like this but I’m not exactly sure what my fun thing is! Maybe it’s just sitting at a cute pub and talking to my friends for way longer than we should as moms with children at home?
There’s still group of moms at our K-8 that have been getting together weekly+ to learn to skateboard and eat and drink together (“urmomskates.fl”). I think it’s the most badass thing ever and I love them for it. I’ve considered joining even though I’ve never desired to skate but because I appreciate their pursuit of fun and friends 🛹
OK pub hangs with friends are 100% fun zone. And a beginner’s skateboarding moms group?!This is the stuff of dreams! I love them so much for it. You definitely need to go at least once. (And please spill the tea in the subscriber chat afterwards haha)
I’m not sure if I am the opposite but I never would describe myself as fun but recently people have said it to my face. So i think it’s crept up on me while I wasn’t looking and I’m delighted!
I love this journey for you!
Shannon, first, I agree with the incredulous here at the idea of you as “not fun.” But the bit you got into at the end about wanting… it brought me into Advent. Listened to the Hark! Podcast from America about O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and one of the interviewees emphasized the sense of LONGING that advent is meant to observe/evoke. This idea of fun is so of a piece with all your work- inviting me to think about what I let myself want, or long for, and how tight a lid I’ve kept on my longings for the first 37 years of my life. Yes, I long for a savior, for justice, for peace. And I long to embrace the things I love - like ice skating and Zumba and romance novels and circles of strong women forming strong community.
Thanks for leaning into that duty to delight ❤️
I did not have an Advent tie-in on my bingo card but I am here for this one. The element of longing is absolutely a part of this that resonates with me. It was cool to read that you really draw that from a lot of my work, because it really is a dominant theme of my writing - precisely bc it's been such a huge shift in my life. I am 100% with you in the wide scope of the longing. Peace and justice, yes. And also frivolity and camaraderie and the occasional crude humor. 😆
You and Teresa of Avila ❤️🔥 Also, I would scrape and save to go on a domestic pilgrimage of fun with you! Thinking like one of those European pilgrimages with an influencer but instead we hit up Red Rocks, do lectio and Karaoke, visit Indie bookstores and shrines. #justsayin
wait why is this now my bucket list
I love this, Shannon! Enneagram 7 here so fun has always been a life value but I’d say I’ve become more comfortable with it in the past 10 years :) also the thing about mom friends that we just tolerate is so real🙃
hehe isn't it?! Figured it might universally resonate. (Also I wish you lived closer bc I need more 7s in my life!)
Definitely leaning more into “want to” and not just “have to” at 46. There’s something to saying it’s okay for me to have fun and that even as a mom, it isn’t exclusively watching my kids have fun. It’s okay for us to do things together as a family and also not together, but this is something I’ve had to learn.
Spoken like a true veteran. Yes! It makes me happy to see that my kids are witnessing the hope that life doesn't end at 30!
It's taken me a long time to not take life and its vicissitudes so seriously. Life can do that to you. And it's a blessing! Good column, Shannon.
I remember what you said about age - how post 50 are really the best years. I'm glad I have much to look forward to!
As the self-proclaimed "Queen of Fun" I approve this message whole-heartedly! 🙌🏼
You and Lizzo, just sisters from another mister
“I want, I want, I want. And the more I want, the more I realize we were designed to want. The wanting is the whole point.”
I relate to this whole post so hard. It’s such a crazy idea that the less seriously I take myself, the more seriously I take myself.