Second Childhood

OK – it’s almost Christmas. I’m supposed to be acting like a kid again. Except that I’m acting like the kid I used to be. Or to be specific, the kid I was before meeting the person who was to become my 2^nd ex. I’m listening to The Bee Gees, (maybe I was Saved by the Bell!) and Jane Oliver – when she first came onto the scene. I’m watching Magoo’s Christmas Carol and Emmett Otter (yea!) And I couldn’t be enjoying myself more! As my anger, hurt and disappointment start to mellow (doesn’t everything with age?) I find I am going back in time and rediscovering more than a few of my favorite things. What I like to do, listen to, watch on the television, wear. I’m like the proverbial kid in the candy store. I know it’s not supposed to be about me – except that the Lord really is letting me realize just what a wonderful life (hey, it’s Christmas!) I truly have. How often do we find ourselves obsessing over what we don’t have, what we want, and what we’ve had taken away? Maybe we’re acclimated to that kind of thinking since we hear only bad news on the radio and tv.

Sidebar comment : You know, I’ll tell you about the news. No wonder cars and trucks cost so much! I bet they can be made for about $500 buck a piece except for the mark-up dealers do to pay for the damned commercials. Man, all I want is to see if a frigging tornado is bearing down on my head or if there’s some stretch of highway blocked off for morning rush to work, and I’ve got to watch like a dozen car ads! Morning news, evening news and the news at 11 – same thing. Cars and trucks. All kinds of shots choreographed with precision driving and retro rock to make me feel like everybody my age drives such and such a model. All that advertising, all those prime time bucks. Don’t they know that if I need a car then I’ll start looking around. Do people really watch the ads and say “Hey cool! Let’s go drop 30K because I saw your zippy SUV and heard a soundbyte of some defunct rock band”? Whew. OK. Glad that’s off my chest.

Instead, let’s do what they say in the corny hippie slogans – stop and smell the flowers. (I can say this – I once almost was a hippie or at least I loved that Youngbloods song). Maybe a lot of this life is to like, BE God’s kids. Let’s smell the breeze and look at that nest in the tree or watch that hill of industrious ants. Wanna color a picture? Let’s make stuff with clay. Cheez – can you take that SUV with you into the great beyond? If you leave all your dough to your kids, can they find a way to deposit it on account for use in the next world? Relax already! Think about what made you happy before you discovered you were a grown-up. I once read that one of the most relaxing things you can do is to listen to a cat purr. Check that. I’ve gotta flush this stress. Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.

Peace, Man.

Ki