Folly #20: Kidding
As in: the opposite of Adulting.
John and I received tickets to the Exploratorium’s After Dark as a holiday gift, and we finally got to go last night. You may have visited this amazing museum of “science, art and human perception” that is the absolute opposite of Don’t touch! It’s a fabulous place to take kids, but why should they have all the fun? After Dark is a weekly, adults-only evening that offers music and drinks and – most importantly – a chance to be kids.
If Kidding the opposite of Adulting I highly recommend it. We had an awe-inspiring and fun night experiencing wonder everywhere.
The Exploratorium opened in 1969 as the brainchild of Frank Oppenheimer. Alarmed by the public’s lack of understanding of science and technology – and the destructive forces 25 years earlier of his and his brother’s scientific work on the atomic bomb – it is a “library of experiments” to explore scientific phenomena wherever our curiosity takes us.
I’m a city girl at heart. So afterwards, we just had to grab a late bite on Chestnut Street in San Francisco, surrounded by people who looked like I did 30 years ago when I lived in the neighborhood. (Tacolicious was delicious and delightful. Thanks for the great meal, Javier!)
It was, basically, a perfect night.
A beautiful opportunity to let go of what I know and see things with childlike wonder and awe. A chance to eat in the company of youthful energy. And hours spent with one of my favorite people in the world.
And isn’t that what we do in our nonprofit work? We see the possibilities and find new solutions. We learn from the wisdom of those who have gone before us. We benefit from the fresh perspective of of younger people.
I need to spend more time Kidding.
By the way, please revisit last week’s Folly and chime in. While I’d be honored and delighted if you paid to read, I’ve decided to make all past issues available to free subscribers. After all, I didn’t pick this career for the money. lol