“We don`t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”  -George Bernard Shaw

There has to be truth to that.   I really believe that if we can find a way to stay young at heart that it will affect our physical age.  I can’t prove its true, but I do believe it’s true.  Adults who laugh a lot look younger to me.   Their wrinkles don’t look like wrinkles; they look like merry smile lines.  Adults who don’t laugh much and always have a sour look on their face seem old and wrinkly.  I’ve also noticed that adults who go out and play with the kids rather than sitting on the sidelines look younger to me.  And adults who still enjoy a hamburger happy meal at McDonalds because it comes with a free toy…well, it always makes you feel younger inside, which is why it’s one of my favorite meals!

I think summer is the perfect time of year to allow yourself to feel like a kid again.  Be excited to go run through the sprinklers, enjoy sitting on the grass sucking on a Popsicle, be happy just to play in the sunshine.  Put your stress aside and see the good in everything around you.  Be happy.   Laugh.  Play.

A few years ago someone sent me a copy of a really cute letter that I want to share:

“I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.

I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8-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 lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple.

When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care.

All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible.

I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple 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 kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So…here’s my checkbook and my car keys, my credit cards and all my responsibility.

I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, ’cause,

“Tag! You’re it.”                                              – Unknown

Today’s challenge – BE YOUNG AGAIN!  Be EXCITED!  Laugh out loud…a lot!  Play games and enjoy them.  Remember all the things that made you smile when you were a kid and smile about them again.  Me, well I plan to go and get me a Hamburger Happy Meal at McDonald’s…I hear they have awesome toys!!!

~Amy

2 Comments

  • Cheryl says:

    Thanks for sharing. This is so inspirational & true to live by. Something that I feel would be a great tool to apply to life. No matter the percentage of application, just do it. Just start….& watch the smile w/in. For me I’m starting w/the Hamburger Happy Meal. Just smile .

  • Parkor Kid says:

    Saw this quote graffiti-ed somewhere and decided to look it up. Thanks for sharing.

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