Will I eventually become a boring adult?
I fear it is inevitable.
You know the ones. They spend 80% of their lives on their butts. The other 20% is spent shopping or mowing their front lawn. They go to work via the Tim Horton’s drive through, and then come home through the same coffee-filled avenue. They spend the evening in front of the TV, or on better days, at their son’s hockey game. They’d never lift a finger to play a game. They’d rather die than run.
They probably would die if they tried to run.
They talk about their deteriorating health and bash their bosses, and they think Tim Horton’s makes good coffee because they haven’t had anything else in two years.
I’m painting with a brush as wide as a football field. I know. But that is who I fear becoming.
When I was a kid, it bewildered me why the adults I knew only wanted to sit around and visit with each other. Why would they never, ever participate in the fun game that we had going? I realize now that adults are tired folk. And why not? Many work a minimum of forty hours a week and then come home, cook dinner, and do laundry. Most of them eat absolute garbage, and don’t have time to exercise, and can’t sleep because they’ve had too much Tim Horton’s. They spend every evening taxiing their kids to soccer and ballet and piano lessons. I know this is because they want to give their kids the best shot at life, but I fear they’re living their lives vicariously through their kids because they gave up on their dreams long ago.
If that’s what it means to grow up, I don’t want to do it.
I’ve come to the end of my 5 Fun Things Challenge. I ended the challenge on an 11 hour work day, which admittedly makes fun a little more difficult. It’s fitting. Most of my days are work days, so I need to learn to make them fun. I’m a grown-up now.
Day 3, Monday:
I went to Folklorama and visited the Chilean pavilion. I enjoyed lively music, sublime singing, and dancing that was a mix of courtly and all-out love for life. The empanadas and drinks were good too. 🙂
Day 4, Tuesday:
I had to wear a respirator to spray caustic cleaner, so I breathed like Darth Vader. Disclaimer: laughing under a half-mask respirator may break the seal.
I caught a ride on a pallet as it went by. Then I got scared and jumped off.
I watched this video and giggled like a maniac in McDonalds. If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, skip to about 5 minutes in and see Seth McFarlane do Liam Neeson’s Taken phone call in Kermit the Frog’s voice!
To sum up the experience…
Why end now? Tomorrow I’m going to try to make it a fun day. I know that tomorrow will have just as many adult experiences–a work day, important business stuff, cooking dinner, and going for a run. But I’m grown-up, not dead.
And I’ve got a dream, and thus, a lot to live for. Why not have fun–BE fun while doing it?
Geralyn Wichers 