it takes a hippopotamus

It doesn't actually take a hippopotamus --at least, not all of the time. Tonight, it took a hippopotamus. Sometimes, it takes a giraffe or a kitty or an elephant, but occasionally, a hippopotamus is what is needed.

What am I talking about? 

I'm talking about fun, friends. I'm talking about silliness. I'm talking about nothing in particular. There is enough going on in the world right now --really serious stuff that can crush your spirit, if you let it. It is important to remember to forget.

Tonight, for me, that took the form of a hippopotamus. Here's the way it works:

1. Get an extremely random idea that has absolutely nothing to do with politics or religion or world events or sickness or strife. There is a time and a place for politics and religion and world events and sickness and strife, but everyone needs to take short breaks from that. Find a random idea we can all agree on like, say, hippopotami.

2. Tweet about it (if you're on Twitter --I'm not sure this would work on Facebook ...). It will look something like this:

3. Hope someone reads it and responds so it's not just you talking to yourself. While talking to yourself is okay, it's not as much fun as when other people join in, like Aaron and others did tonight. Vania had an excellent deer ballerina, Eliza threatened to draw stick hippopotami, Dark Stardust (yes, that is her real name --I challenge you to prove otherwise!) provided a giraffe in a teacup, etc.

4. Draw a hippopotamus dancing atop the Eiffel Tower because you can and because it has nothing to do with politics or religion or world events or sickness or strife. If you're me drawing, it looks something like this:

 

Aaron also drew one, but I can't use it because copyright and I didn't bother asking. His looked slightly different.

5. Take a picture and ask for captions --again, more fun if other people actually participate. Melissa was the first in with "No matter the obstacles," and "Dance like no one's looking". There were others, but those sum it up perfectly: it's okay have fun, just like our hippo atop the Eiffel Tower. Sometimes, there's guilt associated with having fun. Really bad stuff is happening. People are yelling at each other. The world is falling apart. But, like Melissa said, "no matter the obstacles," it's okay to "dance like no one's looking". Sometimes, that dance is metaphorical, and it takes the form of drawing large land mammals dancing and talking about it with friends. 

When times are hard, we need little things to make life worth living. We need joy, if only for a moment. We need hope renewed. We need to find comfort and enjoyment in each other. 

And occasionally, on a rainy night like tonight when the world is all kinds of messed up, we need hippopotami.