It wasn't planned. I looked outside, saw actual sunlight for the first time in what felt like forever, and just thought, why not?

Let's bring the kids outside and burn some energy

My oldest asked me to grab the mat from the corner of the garage where it had been sitting all winter.

Now at first was like "heck yea"

But also I was thinking "ugh, another thing to setup now"

We already had the soccer balls and other toys out.

But it was easy. Ninety seconds later we were having fun.

That's the part that always gets me. With traditional mats, there's a whole process. You drag the pieces out. You line them up. You fix the corners. By the time you're done setting up, you've already used up half the motivation that got you off the couch in the first place.

This was different. The mat was ready before we were. I didn't have to commit to anything in advance, no clearing a space the night before, no rearranging the garage, no planning around it. The weather was good, the mat was out, and that was enough.

We ended up having a blast on it and the kids got some good energy out before bed.

My middle guy even said "this is the best day ever" because we were outside doing what he does best. Wrestling my older child (his brother) haha

When we were done I deflated it, rolled it up, and it was back in the bag in a few minutes.

That's the thing nobody tells you about having a mat that packs away, it doesn't just change where you train. It changes when you train. You stop waiting for the perfect setup and start training whenever the moment shows up.

First nice day of the year. Didn't waste it.