I just came home from my biweekly DND game. It’s a small gathering of friends every two weeks. We started three years ago, I think. We wanted a game table where there were no men playing with us.
I’m trying to remember if it started before or after my divorce. I think it was after. Some of us talked about it for a long time first, so the idea started before.
What makes this a different table than any others I’ve played isn’t just the fact that there are no men there. It’s a different kind of camaraderie.
We tease each other relentlessly
We make crass jokes
We eat a TON of food
We don’t take the game so seriously.
But, it’s serious enough that we rarely miss a session - that’s hard to do, especially over the years we’ve played. Yes, there have been times when we had to cancel and/or someone couldn’t be there.
For the most part, we are always there together. We make some serious space for the game in our lives.
We have been learning more about Dungeons and Dragons as we’ve played. Some of us were more experienced than others, but we still had (have!) a lot to learn. We have done several campaigns and we’ve taken turns being the Game Master for them so that everyone can have a chance to be the players.
Many women aren’t able to make this kind of space in their lives. I am grateful to be able to spend two Sundays a month, laughing and planning my character’s next move. Trying to defeat the villain in the story while learning its secrets fills my creative heart. The fact that I get to do it with an awesome group of friends makes it even better.
It doesn’t matter what your every-second-Sunday looks like. It could be a Tuesday or every Saturday. It could be every second month. Whatever time you can make for it, I hope you do. Fill your cup - fill your soul. Make space for those times where you can just have fun!
So many of us spent so much time making sure that everyone else was having fun, that we forgot how to have fun ourselves. Here in our Second Wind, it’s our turn!
Grab your book and start a book club. Go to a paint night. Create a tournament of your favorite card or a board game. Set up a ‘Stitch & Bitch’ monthly meeting and learn to sew together. Find a group of friends and start a new hobby (learn Dungeons & Dragons! It’s not that hard!). It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It just needs to be FUN and it needs to fill your cup. It needs to let you laugh and poke a little bit of fun at yourself. Life is serious enough.
I hope you find friends, food, and fun to help you reconnect with who you are.
See you at the next game session!
Shawna