I think that as we get older, we have these notions of what is like to be a child. And with these notions we carry memories of all the wonderful, fun and crazy things that we did as kids around in our heart for safekeeping. And once in awhile we have opportunities to relive these childhood times. Recently I was playing chauffuer to my cousins,who are 12, 14, and 16. And I think that they were feeling a little nostalgic as well. This because they asked me to take them to the park so that they could play on the playground. Of course I immediately agreed, thinking that it would be great fun to go and play with my inner child again, as well as spend some quality time with le cousins. So off we went to the park. I should have realized that when my cousin Jill started off the expedition by slipping in a pile of dog poo that the visit to the playground was not the best decision. She bounced back accordingly, but when I look back, I am certain that it was a sign that we should have just left. So we played on the tire swing, and the teeter-totters, and finally the swings. My inner child was estatic, and was asking me why we didn't do this more often. (she soon figured out the answer). Here I was swinging away on my swing...having a grand ol' time. But something that I realized is that as we get older, the activities that we could have spent hours at before as children, get boring and redundant much quicker than when we were younger. So after a few minutes of flying through the air, I wanted to feel the ground again beneath my feet. So I let go of the chains of the swing, and then I felt the ground again. The only problem being it was with my face and not my feet. I had somehow managed to fall flat on my face trying to dismount from the swing. How did this happen?? As I laid there on the ground, in pain, with my cousins surrounding me wondering the exact same thing, the only thing that I could do was get up and brush myself off and laugh at the situation. And take home a very important message: Your childhood is something that was special and unique...never, ever try and recreate those feelings EVER again. It is like seeing the trailers at the exhibition ground when the carnival comes to town,and the ferris wheel twirling in the sky. I still get that excited feeling. It is so hard to explain...just that kid feeling. So you go with a light step to the fair grounds and stand in line to get your tickets, getting more and more excited as you reach the booth. Finally tickets in hand, you head off to your old favorite rides: the tilt-a-whirl, round-up (the stand up rollercoaster), and the Scrambler. You go on the first ride, and are anxiously waiting for it to start, and then it does, and you get a strange feeling in your stomach, something you are familar with, but can't put your finger on it. Then you get off, and get on the next ride, and it is the same situation again! But this time you are able to figure out what that odd sensation is. It is OLDNESS! It is that odd combination of nausea from too much motion, and just sheer exhustation from having to exert so much energy in order to have "fun". So the moral of this story is that we are old and we have to leave our childhood behind...for our own personal wellbeing!!