My Life in Thirty Seconds

Tonight I had the most amazing time playing with some of the coolest people. We played a game my kids and I like to play, that I call "30 seconds of Life". The game involves each person in the group getting 30 seconds to tell a story of their own invention; one person starts and after 30 seconds, they select someone to continue, and after 30 seconds they select someone else, and so on and so on, each person continuing where the last left off, each one building upon the one before.

I had planned for the game to be fun, but I had not planned on the overwhelming inspiration and revelation that I felt as I listened to the stories my friends were telling. They told stories about trudging up hills, skinning their knees, finding ladybugs, bleeding, Emergency rooms, healing wounds, gaining wisdom, dreaming, flying to new places, imagining the unimaginable and completing life's cycles. I was humbled and amazed. In that half of a minute, each of us could be anyone, do anything and create a story that was sad, crazy, silly, practical, funny, inspiring or fantastical; we could create anything we wanted to. And we did. Each person's tale was unique and somehow, always perfectly suited to them. As one person's time ended, the next would promptly begin where they left off, carefully weaving a simple story out of 30 second segments, crafted together to make a complete whole. I sat awestruck as each story, short though it may have been, showed a tiny glimpse into the tellers heart. I felt privileged to witness it. It was magical!

We left with a renewed desire to capture the same magic in our everyday lives. Where, 30 seconds at a time, we create a fantastical, unique story, all our own, knowing it will be perfect and when our 30 seconds, or 30 years or 90 years are done, we pass the baton to the next person, feeling certain we did all we could and wishing them the best as they build on what we gave them.

My thirty seconds begins right now, with a wild, curly headed girl staring up through the branches of her tree at the moonlight...wondering what comes next?