As a warrior wields his deadly saber while riding into combat to defeat his dreaded enemy, so do I utilize night creams, hair color, and Spanx in my own losing battle against wrinkles, gray hair and an ever-widening rear end. I married The Mister twenty-five years ago. That’s a quarter century, folks! Son and Daughter are both adults now. It has been a full five years since I have been able to read anything sans reading glasses. I no longer need to bring ID with me to go out for a cocktail because my chance of being carded is on par with my chance of paying off the national debt by myself. The signs are all there. And those outward signs say boldly that I am quite grown up. If all of those signs aren’t enough proof of my entry into Adultdom, just take a peek at the pile of bills on my kitchen counter. You must be a card-carrying member of The Grown Up Club to have bills like that.
But what about the inward signs? That place in my heart that screams, “Where the hell did that age spot come from? I still feel seventeen!” That thing deep within me that compels me to act silly, the absolute opposite of mature, just so I can roar with laughter at my own brilliant yet underappreciated sense of humor. That spark inside that still believes a day spent adventuring, dancing, spinning tales, singing loudly and off-key, and snuggling with the cutest puppy ever…well, that is a day well-spent
Somewhere along the way, most of us learn to believe that life is either/or. Either you’re a kid or you’re a grown up. Either you’re winning a gold medal running the Front Yard Dash as the imagined crowd roars or you are working, cleaning, calling the repairman. What if we get rid of either/or and replace it with both/and? You’re a responsible adult and still have the joy of a child. You can be both a bank teller and the best mud pie maker in the neighborhood. Don’t buy into the lie that you can’t be both. We should be both. We need to be both. After all, the oil needs to be changed and the floor isn’t going to mop itself. But if we don’t delight in play now and again, sometimes, once in a while often…then who cares if the oil is changed and the floor is mopped?
I don’t know if I will ever be chronologically old enough that I actually feel inside my heart that I’m grown up. I don’t know if there will ever come a day that I don’t want my mommy. Should it even be legal to prefer responsibly having a dental cleaning to spending a day at the park? Would I ever even want a day when I don’t wonder if it would really be all that bad if I eat ice cream for dinner? In fact, if I ever stop wanting ice cream for dinner, someone better send me immediately to a little “vacation” at that “special hospital” because the day I stop wanting Tahitian vanilla gelato sprinkled with peanut butter chips instead of fish and veggies for dinner, that will be the day I have gone completely mad!
One of the many great things about being a parent with young children is that you get to enjoy play with them each day. Their imaginations are fantastic and their energy levels are unending so for the little ones, when it comes to play, the sky is the limit. And you get to come along for the wild ride. One of the many great things about hitting the age in life that your kids are grown is that you now have time for your own play. Maybe it has been so long that you don’t remember how to play. Been there! Maybe you aren’t even sure anymore what you like to do for fun. Been there, too! Maybe the thought of trying a new hobby and risking “failing” by not doing well is just a whole lot of scary for you. Yep, been there for that one as well!
We must not allow time, apathy, fear, or anything to rob us of our opportunity to create our own new and fresh brand of fun now that we actually have time to engage in play. Though I will keep battling, I actually know that my war on the outward signs of aging is in truth a losing battle (long, long sigh). Whether I win or lose the inward battle, however, is up to me. And it is up to you. As long as we keep trying and learning and laughing and playing and searching for then finding new marvels in life, then we win the inward battle. And as much as I would love wrinkle free skin, hair that never turns gray, and buns of steel, I would rather have a happy heart, an adventurous spirit and a joyful life.
Not Afraid to Try 