I Miss the Act of “Bopping”
"Bopping” around insinuates feeling free, being flexible, filling your day with things you enjoy, and “following the fun”. To be honest, it is kind of the antithesis of parenting.
The other week I was with a couple we’re close with and we were chatting about our plans for the next day. Joe’s friend said he was going to go golfing and my friend, his wife, said she’ll probably just “bop around town”, stop by our house, and hang until he’s done. To this, her husband responded, “she loves herself a good day to ‘bop’”. And, honestly, SAME. I laughed because a memory of a therapy session last year immediately came to mind. I was on the phone with my therapist, 8 months pregnant, extremely uncomfortable, frustrated, and out of breath. I told her I was struggling with working while being this pregnant because I’d plan days in NYC to do podcast recordings and meetings and other things that needed to be done and I had to come to terms with the fact that I can’t just “bop around” this pregnant. She audibly laughed at me because, no shit, you can’t do the physical act of bouncing around when you’re that close to giving birth. Now, you may be wondering, “Cam, where the actual F are we going?” and trust me, I get it. I promise at one point I’ll land the plane. But this is important background context (I think??). This conversation with our friends got me thinking about how much I love a good day to bop around and how few and far-between those days exist in my current life. Which led to digging a bit deeper into why: is it because I moved to the suburbs? Or, more realistically, is it because I have kids? Is it potentially possible to bring it back into my life? Is this the thing I miss most about the freedom of life before children?