My roommate Katherine just left on a potentially life-altering trip to Germany. Since we’re both play-and-ritual junkies, this morning we had fun acknowledging her big transition in style.

Breakfast

First, I made a delicious french toast breakfast.

Then for a blessing, we rolled a large wooden die with German meal prayers on each side. (Little known fact: this was the original inspiration for the MuseCubes). Because Katherine had bought the die on a previous trip to Germany, this blessing was especially meaningful today.

Instead of an “Amen,” we shared a MuseCube moment which consisted of jumping and giggling in the middle of the kitchen.  It turns out MuseCubes are a highly flexible tool for creative living (not just for stuckness). Thus inspired, we ate our breakfast while discussing theology, romance, and travel tips.

Hoopla

A hoopla is a playful ritual designed to celebrate and affirm the hoops that we jump through in our lives. Click here to see Cynthia Winton Henry describe the first hoopla.

Last year at our housewarming party, we invited fellow revelers to decorate our hoola hoop (pictured above).  Whenever there is an occasion worthy of marking, my housemates and I improvise a hoopla.

Today in honor of Katherine’s big trip, I held the hoop at the threshold of our front door. She left the house by leaping through the hoop head first. We hugged, and she drove off!

Gratitude

The Hoopla is brilliant partially because it’s so ridiculous. I mean, it’s a hoola hoop, for goodness sakes!  It’s playful, unpretentious, and ultimately profound. In our household, most of our hooplas take less than 2 minutes.  Each is unique. They often occur in the kitchen (where we share stories about our day while we cook).

Gosh, I love living with women who co-create such depth, richness, and proFUNdity. Thank you, Kelly and Katherine. On this, the one year anniversary of our housewarming, I’m so grateful to be living with you! (By the way, Kelly did not get to participate in this particular hoopla because she was off to Napa Valley for wine tasting, lucky gal. But she was definitely here in spirit).