Hello, My Name Is
Been thinking about playfulness and free time to just return to small joys. This morning, I was pondering improvisation over my coffee. I poured it into a mug that has “tea” printed on the front. It was the first one I grabbed and thought, why not. Made me feel a bit of a rebel to not stay stuck in the rut of routine.
I have periods and moments of that type of frivolous joy, doing things that on the surface seem silly or pointless and yet, underneath that seemingly odd behaviour lies the kinds of things that motivate me.
Many years ago, my mother and a few of her maternal cousins, sitting over a meal and no doubt a few glasses of wine, decided that it was long past time for a family reunion (likely because we’d never had one). These cousins from the Scottish side of the family were all many years older than my mother who was the baby of the family. Each cousin there that night was given the task of informing siblings, children and grandchildren about this momentous occasion. My mother was either given the job of coordinating the entire thing (because she was the youngest) or she volunteered. They even named it after the branches of the family that stood for the four Scottish sisters. That mouthful appeared at the top of the invitations that were printed.
Family came from places afar – Alberta and Windsor - but most of us lived locally. I knew the senior generation having spent many years going with my mother to bridal showers, weddings, baby showers and funerals. My cousins from Windsor knew no one but our little family. They weren’t the only ones who were unfamiliar with their very large extended family.
To make things easier for all those attending my mother had us all fill out and wear those “Hello My Name Is” badges and we were also to wear another one that signified which of those 4 sisters we were related to.
I decided I’d have a little fun and on my “Hello” badge I printed the name of a well known tv actress. My sister thought it was hilarious, so she followed suit. Our mother was less than impressed (not unusual) but she was far too busy overseeing all that needed to be done to spend much time worrying or chastising us about it. And then it started. I approached people who read my name tag and then did a double take and laughed. I then introduced myself properly and did this as many times as possible. When my mother saw the laughter and the ease with which people began to mingle and communicate (this before we got into the dancing and the Gay Gordons) she visibly relaxed, shook her head and later took me aside to ask “why?”
It was an ice breaker. Take a room filled with people, most of whom only spent family time with their immediate family or first cousins and watch them all stay together in small groups. No one wants to make that first move or call attention to themselves. Enter me. I don’t mind doing breaking the ice in sometimes subtle ways and in this case it helped to set the mood for the evening to come.
I was less than impressed with myself when at the end of the evening it was decided that the party had been such a success, we would do it again the following year – with me the one nominated to organize it. I improvised that too.
