Fun

“Light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment" - Oxford English Dictionary

The experience of “fun” is very personal.

Throughout my lifetime, I have experienced many activities from which I derived the feeling of “having fun”. Laughter with friends and family is a common “fun” experience that both sexes enjoy. Other forms of fun appear to be gender specific.

I raised two daughters. They enjoyed dressing up, creating different “looks” with clothes and makeup, dancing and light-hearted merriment with friends often with music involved. They would say they were having fun during those activities.

I am one of four brothers. We all played hockey and would say we had fun while getting bumped, hot and sweaty. It usually included having beers with the players afterwards and embellishing stories of our heroic actions in the ice.

My niece is 14. She would fit in readily with my daughters in fun and merriment, but she also plays competitive hockey and enjoys watching NHL games with her dad.

Nowadays, one way that I “have fun” is to spent 90 minutes with my wife on a Skike & Bike outing. We live in the country with access to many rural roads through farmland and adjacent lakes. Cynthia rides her bicycle while I Nordic Cross Skate and enjoy a podcast. The “great outdoors”, fresh air and exercise invigorates us and we both return home “feeling like a million bucks”. Is this “fun” or simply “enjoyment”? Either way, we have been doing this for ten years and, with any luck, we will do it for ten more. Skike & Bike season starts in April and ends in December. We are eager to get on the road again!

I don’t know why I am writing this article. Maybe it’s simply to marvel at how different people “have fun”. It has certainly changed for me over the years and is influenced by age, gender, culture and personal circumstances.

I wish everyone some serious fun today in any way that is meaningful to them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun