BE A KID!

This blog is part of a series. You might want to check out the initial blog of the series http://hubpages.com/hub/MERRY-HUBS-MONTH

to get a quick overview snapshot of the series and how this blog fits in. BUT this blog also stands on its own!! Well, maybe it’s tilting just a tad! Okay, I’ll shush so you can read.

This challenge reminds me of the long-time story and recent film, "Where The Wild Things Are." I really enjoyed the film. The original storybook seems innocent in comparison. In fact, I wasn’t sure the film was really a kid’s film. It seemed to be more about adults trying to find that treacherous pathway that runs between kid-dom and grownup-dom. Grownup-dom. That’s too funny.

Without even getting into those complexities, I definitely have issues around just the simple notion of being a kid. I have a difficult time playing. Or when I do play, I have a hard time playing for fun. I play to WIN or KILL or DIE! I have a hard time window shopping and dreaming. I fear that every moment of window shopping brings me that much closer to being talked into reaching for the wallet for the credit card or the last twenty dollars I was saving for an emergency. My wife and family can sense the tension and fear. They’re not sure what it is about and probably just assume it is about them. Basically, I’m no fun when it comes to shopping.

I don’t enjoy just hanging out, like on a Saturday morning, just lounging around, reading the newspaper in bed next to my sweetie pie. I’m driven to begin thinking about how much I can get done, how much I can get caught up, on this "free" day.

And I don’t like lying on the beach and risking sunburn and skin cancer. I fear, I don’t even know, that the water will be too cold, and I fear shivering to the point I can’t stop. Man, I am NO fun!

When we are heading for the movie or a dinner reservation, I am uptight, uptight, and UPTIGHT. I don’t want to lose our reservation, and I don’t want to miss one second of the movie, even though, my sweetie pie continues to remind me that the previews usually last at least twenty minutes. But I have yet another fear–finding my way in a DARK theater. I hate it, especially if I’ve taken the risk to be even later by stopping to buy popcorn and soda. Nothing like tripping on the stairs in a DARK theater and losing fifty dollars worth of popcorn and soda--a large bag of popcorn and one large diet coke that we share! Man, I am NO fun!

When we take a trip, I don’t like to stop hither and yawn and go off the beaten path. Hell, we’ll never get there! I anticipate getting there, unloading the car (takes at least a day--we take the kitchen sink, for crying out loud), and then finally relaxing. On the second or third day of the vacation, I begin thinking about the trip home and how we might arrive home early enough to relax the final moments of our time off.

And absolutely NOT, we can’t stop hither and yawn on the way home either! Man, I am NO fun.

And like most men, I can’t just enjoy all the little bits and pieces that go into being loving and passionate and little by little creating that magnificent moment of life outleaping its limits. And I hate the instructions (reminds me of the voice chip on the voice mail), instructions that confirm over and over that I’m rushing headlong into this bliss when I need to just be sauntering and enjoying each moment, like eating popcorn one kernel at a time. You ought to see me eat popcorn. Well, scarf up or devour popcorn, vacuum popcorn! Man, I am NO fun.

In the movie, "Where The Wild Things Are," I was struck by the "rumpus" and the hard hitting play between the characters. It did remind me of many kids I work with. They love to slam into each other or into adults. I’ve always judged it as "strange" or "pathological" and here it is on this film portrayed as FUN as RUMPUS!! Made me stop and rethink here. Although, I was also pleasantly touched when Max realized that perhaps he was hurting those he loved by all the rumpus. Well, here we are again having to struggle with balance, one of my least favorite notions. In my non-kid world, I don’t know that balance is even possible. Perhaps it’s the adult in me fearing the balance becoming unbalanced instead of just enjoying falling into the "brink" and getting wet or SOAKED. Man, I am NO fun.

You know what? It’s getting difficult to write another line. I think the Challenge is ON for me. Be a Kid!

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment or two, especially if you are like me!