Emotions are complicated things. (Duh, or else this profession wouldn’t exist). Sometimes stating the obvious is necessary to get to the next place, like the ability and need to have simultaneous emotions roiling around together. Like Fun, playful and sad.

My husband is friends with a pretty incredible man, Bernie DeKoven, also known as “Major Fun”. Bernie works tirelessly to make fun and playfulness a part of every situation, even sad ones. Especially sad ones.

Bernie has a mission to see the world as playful, to be playful, to incorporate playfulness into everything you do. In this regard, his mission and mine are quite similar. In marriage counseling, one of the main aspects that helps determine how a couple is doing is their incorporation (or lack thereof) of playfulness in their relationship. Do they joke, hold hands, tickle, giggle, have inside jokes? How high is their playfulness quotient?

Even in tough times, like times of health issues or financial burden, how much playfulness can you inject to keep spirits and energy afloat?

A recent post revealed that Bernie has a terminal cancer. He will die within a year. Yet he is still forwarding his mission of fun and playfulness for his legacy to live on even after he does not. This legacy is the same for couples. Your playfulness quotient will live on in the relationships that your children have, long after you are gone. Modeling is essential for kids to embed lessons and patterns into their lives. Bernie is an amazing model.

Let’s all pray for Bernie, go to his site and see all he has done to lift the fun quotient in our lives, and make sure that his playful, fun legacy indeed lives on and not just survives, but thrives.