Off to Neverland!

As an adult you never really grow up, you just learn how to act in public. You learn it's not cool to begin screaming and crying at the table when your burger doesn't have the proper amount of pickles. You also tolerate sharing crayons and will sit in your seat; even if you really want to play tag around the restaurant table.

Some things you just have to do to belong in public.

My friend has a theory that there is an age we never really grow out of. Yes, we grow taller, and improve our vocabulary. We begin paying attention to Wall Street instead of Sesame Street, and our day is not destroyed when someone else eats the last of the graham crackers. But there is an age we will always identify with.

I'm five.

I'd rather watch The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Looney Tunes, than prime time drama shows.

I can't tell you why Democrats and Republicans are fighting or what about, but I can tell you why Tom and Jerry, The Roadrunner and Wile. E. Coyote are having issues.

 When we go to dinner I want crayons and the menu I can color. How often I request the coloring materials depends on who I'm having dinner with.

Eating with friends and their four and two year old children?

CRAYONS!

Eating at a nice restaurant?

Act like I know how to be an adult. (LAME!)

The problem with being five, or a child trapped in an adult body is I often get the small children in trouble.

Most adults who are kicked under the table by a child's legs would request the child to stop. I pull off the child's shoe.

Is the child bopping me in the back? Again, most people would say stop. I throw the child upside down.

The way I try to solve the problem, might be leading to more problems for those around us.

Yes, my husband and the child's parents spend most dinners or outings telling us to knock it off, and trying to put us in timeout.

Oops. Sorry.

I might need to work on being an adult and not getting the child wound up. But let's be honest, it's way more fun to play around then behave. Everyone knows that.

But here's the thing, James M. Barrie created an empire surrounded by the concept of not wanting to grow up. Peter Pan is still finding his way into theatres, books, and Halloween more than a hundred years after his creation.

Who doesn't love the concept of Neverland? No bills, no responsibility, you get to live in a tree house! What person at some point in their life didn't want to do that?

I just want to play. Simple as that, and if finding Neverland allows me to do that. Then you'll find me in Neverland. I know it cannot be found on a map, it needs to be found elsewhere. And I've found it in my inability to grow up.

Life is fun, and it only lasts about 80 to 90 years so why should I spend time stressing about boring stuff like matching socks or a million servings of vegetables?

I understand that there are times when I cannot be the big kid, I have to be a lame adult. I'm thinking to keep myself of being sent to the car during the next dinner I need to find that balance.