“Can I read you a poem?” my new friend Di asks me just now as our video chat draws to an end. “It’s called Today by Billy Collins. I heard it on the radio earlier this morning and I thought you might like it.”
My heart giggles quietly with joy at being offered a poetry reading by an adult. I can’t, for the life of me, remember the last time this happened.
Meet Dianne Gammage, author of Playful Awakening – Releasing the Gift of Play in Your Life. I first came across Di’s soul-lifting book on play in the summer of 2023. The book resonated with me the moment it crossed my path and I’d been daydreaming about the kind of conversations we’d have over a cup of tea. So I wrote Di an email (I would have written her a letter if that were still fashionable) introducing her to my baby oak tree Querkie and telling her about my PLAY book.
As I move ever closer to completing the manuscript of my next book (next Thursday!), I cherish the many new and profound friendships I’ve made on my personal play adventure. It reminds me of what making true friends was like as a child. A time when I truly played and now that the wheel has turned – I am being invited to play again. And I extend that invitation to you.
You can find Di’s talk about Playful Awakening and play therapy here.
If you’d like to explore ways of experiencing more joy through play in your life – be it at work and/or at home, for you or with your team or with your family – let’s have a chat over a virtual cuppa.
THE SCHOOL OF PLAY 