I hereby officially tender my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a six year old again.
I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.
I want to think M&Ms are better than money, because you can eat them.
I want to have recess and paint with watercolors in art.
I want to comfortably walk out of the house with hair that clearly dried overnight while I slept.
I want to wear sneakers every day, even to church.
I want to have someone lay out and iron my clothes every morning.
I want to come home to a cooked meal and have someone cut my meat.
I want to take long baths and sleep 10 hours every night.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day.
I want to hug my sibling and my parents every day.
I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, addition tables and simple nursery rhymes; but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. When all you knew was to be happy because you didn't know all the things that should make you worried and upset.
I want to think that the world is fair. That everyone in it is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible.
Somewhere in my youth I matured and I learned too much.
I learned of nuclear weapons, war, prejudice, starvation and abused children.
I learned of lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death.
I learned you must clean your own toilets.
I learned of a world where children knew how to kill...and do.
What happened to the time when we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn't truly grasp the concept of death, except for goldfish? When we thought the worst thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from you or picked you last for kickball?...when we didn't need to find our glasses to read?
I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little things once again. I want to return to the days when music was clean.
I remember being naive and thinking that everyone was happy because I was.
I would walk on the beach and think of the sand between my toes and the prettiest seashell I could find, without thinking about erosion or water pollution.
I would spend my afternoons climbing trees in the park and riding my bike, without concern of being kidnapped. I didn't worry about time, bills or where I was going to find the money to fix my car. I used to wonder what I was going to do or be when I grew up, not worry about what I'll do if this doesn't work out.
I want to live simply again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness and loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a hand squeeze, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind and making angels in the snow.
I want to go back to the time when:
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming,"do over!"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly".
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20.
The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and the rules didn't matter.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.
"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense.
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors but also the fiercest protectors.
Ah yes, I want to be six all over again.
