I met my friend Stef at a party in the middle of the Nevada desert. Stef was dressed in an amazing outfit and was riding a bike that had one of those Giddy-up pony stick horses attached to the handlebars. The horse had its mane trimmed very short. The joke was that she was “Riding through the desert on a horse with no mane.” It’s a play on the words from the soft-rock group America’s song “A Horse with No Name.”
The joy of meeting someone with such whimsy made me incredibly happy. Stef and I had a couple of amazing adventures out in the desert, including welcoming a caravan of people coming out, swimming in a refreshing reservoir, and just generally celebrating life.
Celebrating life is one of my favorite things to do. When I saw the costumes and masks and other party implements on Cappel’s website, I thought about this. In this time of COVID and social distancing we still need the joy and happiness of celebrating life. What better way is there to do that than getting dressed up and acting silly and having fun? Sure, having a virtual party on Zoom may not be the perfect way to spend our lives, but it gives us the ability to have fun and be festive. We need to bring the festival life into our own homes until it’s safe to do so together again. When we have Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day or Mardi Gras to look forward to, it makes life special.
If anything, our lives of shelter-in-place time, face masks and other ways of staying safe have given us time away from others to reflect on what matters in our lives. What matters most to me is my connection with family and friends. I miss the wonderful conversations and feeling of togetherness. We can still have that and getting dressed up in costumes and makeup makes it special. The playfulness of getting in costume brings us back to the wonderment of being a child again. As long as you can remain young in your head and your heart, you will remain young in life. Isn’t life too short to be too serious?
I’m thinking I may want to plan a party where everyone can be a little extra special. A little silly. Where we can express ourselves through dress. We can take on a role that is out of the ordinary and make our lives extraordinary! Creating the space for others to have fun and celebrate life is a gift. Let’s do that while we can and make every day worth living.
Peter Mentor is a teacher, photographer, artist and lover of life. He is helped by his six-year-old son who reminds him constantly that life is for living, so live it now.