Panda Drum
I had no idea how much fun a Panda Drum could be. Heck, I didn’t even know what a Panda Drum was until this past Tuesday night. I didn’t actually get to play one myself, but getting the chance to watch a colleague play one during a Zoom meeting made me smile and laugh long after the meeting had ended.
The Zoom gathering was part of an online program on personal wellness that I am co-leading for two churches in my community. We were talking about balance, and I asked the group how they knew when they were starting to get out of balance. The answers included, “I get grumpy and irritable,” "I take things way too seriously and lose my ability to laugh,” “I numb out in some way,” and “I over-work myself.”
The conversation turned to the importance of making time for play as being essential for emotional balance. All agreed that play was lacking in their lives and that the pandemic had taken away so many of the ways in which they used to play and renew their spirits. One person offered, “I used to laugh a lot more,” and I saw many heads nodding in agreement. Right at that moment, we all started hearing some unusual sounds floating through our computer speakers. At first, no one knew where they were coming from, but then it became clear that the sounds were coming from Meredith, one of the other co-leaders of our group.
“What on earth are you doing, Meredith?” someone asked. “Why I’m playing my new Panda Drum!” was her response. She then repositioned her laptop camera so that we could all watch her improvising a variety of sounds as she used mallets to strike her drum. She explained that, like many people, she spends a lot of time in online meetings, and so in between meetings, she de-stresses by playing her newly purchased instrument.
There was such delight in all of us as we enjoyed this wholly spontaneous and unexpected moment. We were no longer talking about the importance of humor and play; we were experiencing it. The smile and delight in Meredith’s face were as contagious as the creative sounds she was making, and it brought joy to my face as well. One of the great things about Zoom is that I could look around at each person's face that night and see that they were each shining with delight as well.
To be honest, I struggled with whether to write about this or not this week. I wondered if it was frivolous to write about something so small and silly when such heavy and tragic things are happening all around us. I decided to go ahead and share this experience because I’m guessing I’m not the only one who needs help renewing their spirits right now. I just didn’t expect to find that renewal in the form of a Panda Drum in the middle of a Zoom meeting.
May you be blessed by similar moments of laugher and delight in your life this week, however small and unexpected they may be. It might be just what we need to give us the strength and resilience to face the challenges in our collective lives.
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