Take A Walk On The Younger Side

    Take a walk on the younger side  - a younger side of you.  Do something really dumb, act silly for your age group, outside your character, your demeanor.  It will freak out your friends and family and make ‘em them think you’ve completely lost all your marbles and ready for the nut farm.  Go ahead and scream at the top of your lungs or do jumping jacks if all your body parts will allow it.  Kids do it all the time and it seems to be working for them. 

    Try at least once more to be a kid.  I’ve always tried to act silly – and I’ve succeeded most of the time.  People have even said, “SaraJane, you’re silly.”  Years ago I was evicted from the McDonald’s playground. My grandson thought that was the coolest  thing – seeing his Nana being scolded.  But he and I were have a high ole time crawling through the tunnels chasing each other.  We zipped in and out, running around like a bunch of hyenas until we were both dizzy with puredy ol’e fun. 

    Alas though, the last straw for the manager was when I tried to slide down that curvy slide.  Bless the manager’s heart, she very tactfully told me I was entirely too “big” to be playing on the playground.  She didn’t remark about my fatty old body, nor did she say I was too tall – she just said I was too “big”.  Thank you, Ms. Manager, for sparing my feelings while protecting the other fifteen children wanting to play.  Ronald McDonald just didn’t design the hard plastics to burden the weight of an aging grandmother.  Ms. Manager told me if I tried to run rampant through the tunnels again she just couldn’t allow it.    Management would have to post to the sign “No Shoes, No Adults, No Grandmothers”.

    The exhilaration of doing something so out of the norm, so childish -  even getting into trouble - made me feel like “Peter Pan” – never grow up.  The joyful playing, the romping and running with my grandson are engrained in my memory forever.  Some of the best times I’ve had with all my grandchildren were when I acted the fool – it tickled them all.  It did wonders for me. 

    There is one thing that I shouldna’ attempted the later stages of my life and that’s roller skating.  At the urging of my children (tells how long ago that was),  they pulled and tugged on me to put on a pair of skates to get out there with them.  Not to be daunted, I strapped them puppies on and like a newborn calf I waddled out to the middle of the ring.  After I fell on MY rear end cracking MY tailbone in two places,  I decided to leave such activities and sports to the younger people.  My rear end was black and blue from one cheek to another and as sore as all get out.  Heck, I even had to strap on a bed pillow around MY butt for a week just to be able to sit down.  And the commode seat  - that thing had to be made of soft  foam to ease the pain as I did Number 1 and Number 2.  Yep - from my experience alone -  I highly recommend leaving roller skating well enough alone.  When youngsters hit that hard floor, they just bounce right back up like a rubber ball and the only thing they do is look around to see if someone was watching.  But older people just lie there like a limp dirty dish rag.   

    Just because I’m 50+ years old doesn’t mean I have to act like it. I’ve conveniently convinced the ole brain of mine as well as my heart that I’m still 10 years old and not ready for the walker just yet.  No one wants to be around someone that acts 100+ years old – old and discrepant and falling asleep all the time. I’ve discovered that children of all ages want to hang around a vibrant, baseball playing, dart throwing, cartwheeling putt-putt queen.  Never do I ever want to hear my grandchildren say they don’t want to spend the night with their Nana because I’m boring and watch “Nancy Grace” all the time. 

    I tell you what, playing around like I’m still the youngest acting grandmother in the history of grandmothers will evoke memories of not only my childhood but made memories of my grandchildren’s childhood as well.  My children and grandchildren will remember me as the one that always PLAYED.  Mark that down in your little daybook. 

    Until next time…..take a walk on the younger side.

....take care....SaraJane.....