Can you remember back when you were young
When all the simple things you did were so much fun
When all the simple things you did were so much fun
You got lost somewhere along the way
You've forgotten how to play, every single day... *
If you had the chance to read my Finding Neverland post then you'll know that I am absolutely in love with the show. See, I do this thing where I play a cast album over and over until I know it really well. I fall in love with shows I've never seen, and this was the latest example of that. Guilty.
I mentioned in that post that I would write a post or two following that one, and I am finally getting around to it now. Procrastination- 1, Lauren- 0
HOWEVER, it works out well because little did I know back then that my delay in writing would lend itself to ultimately having a good personal example and not to mention a picture to back my words up.
Me on Halloween. 2015
A quick bit of backstory for you:
For almost two years now, I have worked on an events team that puts on primarily weddings, but additionally any other event you can really think of (One day last year, a corporate group came in and made scarecrows and carved pumpkins. I remember it well because I spent a lot of time after the event picking up garbage bags and garbage bags full of said scarecrow remnants and pumpkins). The day-of craziness and behind-the-scenes work that ultimately puts on the resulting photo-worthy productions has been what I do along with the rest of my team.
As you can imagine, the job can get very repetitive, and one event can blur into the next. Imagine working three weddings in a row on any given weekend. Obviously, they are all unique and special individually to the people involved, but from my perspective they can all seem essentially the same. Set-up, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, tear-down. Not to reduce these magical and monumental moments of people's lives down to that, but hopefully you get what I'm saying.
At the beginning of October, in one of my team's meetings before an event, we were informed that the Bride of the wedding on October 31st would like us to dress up in costume. What?! Talk about a plot-twist, haha. The room full of adults all of a sudden became like a 2nd grade classroom, and we were all buzzing with the idea. It became, "Oh my gosh! You guys! What should we be?!" and "What do you want to be?" or "Who do you want to dress up as?" Seriously, you never would have thought we were all professional people you should hire to run your event! (We are, just to clarify, incredibly great and hard-working employees, especially if someone I work with reads this! You should have your next grand event at our venue! Okay, phew... crisis avoided ;D)
It's funny because when I was the age where it is socially acceptable and pretty much expected to dress up in costume, I didn't care for it. I dressed up for a few years, but my costume ideas became whatever I had around the house. Think waitress-- pants, shirt, apron-- simple! Eventually, Halloween became me staying at home and reading or watching a movie and passing-off the duty of candy distribution to my mom whenever the trick or treaters looked too scary to me. I don't like when people wear scary masks. I'd like to see your face, please and thank you!
Growing up, I always loved participating in theater productions, and for the most part always loved my costumes too. I don't know whether it was because I had a character I was really playing that made it interesting, but somehow it was different from dressing in costume as a child. [Quick side-note: speaking of "playing a character"- that didn't click as something to do on Halloween as a kid. It was very clearly Lauren in a costume. One year, I took my sister around the cul-de-sac and multiple times people asked, "And who are you?" and my response was consistently "Oh, I'm Lauren, and this is Hayley, we live over in *points finger* that house"... GAH! No, Lauren, they wanted to know that you were rocking a sweet Kim Possible costume. They didn't care about my real identity, they wanted to know who I was portraying for the night, and clearly not doing a convincing job at that! I still feel like an idiot over that one, haha.]
This wedding on Halloween that my team worked was the last one of the season at our venue. We still have some other events, but that was the final check mark made on the list of weddings I worked all year. Now I told you, when I was a kid, I just didn't care for dressing up on Halloween, but all of a sudden when I'm a working adult, I care!! Leading up to the day, I was so genuinely excited and loved thinking through costume ideas. Once I settled on one idea, I was very content and looking forward to it, but I kept coming up with additional ideas that I liked. Who am I? This is so different from little me.
Really though, I now have a bunch of costume ideas ready to go, so if anyone is having a party, small get-together, anything where a costume would be appropriate, let me know!
It didn't take me long to decide that I would be a pirate for the Halloween wedding. I love pirates, and I will break that down in a second, but also it allowed me the functionality I needed to work for 10 hours.
The reason behind my choice was simply my love for Jake (as in, Jake and the Neverland Pirates), Zarina (aka The Pirate Fairy from Pixie Hollow) and the Neverland pirates in general! Yes, I'm an adult. We all know I love Peter Pan, and this was a cool way to partake in what Peter would call "an adventure that begins with PIRATES."
In Finding Neverland (the musical) it is sung, "It would seem you've had an imagination all this time!" I love this line in the song "Play" because I feel like it is a reminder for myself, and anyone else who needs to hear that reminder. Obviously imagination spans far wider than just a Halloween costume.
The Bride's request was simple, and open for interpretation. Some of us really dressed up and loved it, but not everyone dressed up. I'm happy to say that for the first time in something like 10 years and not just for a theater role, I was in the first camp.
"With just imagination and creative speculation, our life's calling was never meant to be boring!"
^ Another good line from the show, but from the song, "Believe."
We should be taking every advantage to play, even when we are adults. I didn't take enough advantage of that as a kid, and am now working to soak up as much of it as I can. I mean, I choose to return to Disney, even after working there, every chance I get, because there is no judgement for an adult walking around, essentially playing! I love it.
Behind my serious exterior, I really am just a big kid. I'm learning to embrace the freedom to play, and maybe look a little silly sometimes, and I hope you will too.
Play, play, remember like it was yesterday
We were young and having fun, playing all our cares away
Play, play, remember and you will see
The world is so mysterious and wild
when you start to see it through the eyes of a child *
Did you dress up for Halloween? If so, comment below what you went as, I'd love to hear how you took advantage of this chance to play!
x Lauren
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* Additional lyrics from Finding Neverland's "Play"
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