Growing Up

So last week I saw a few of my fellow community theater friends perform Peter Pan here in Cinci. The show had a lot of kids in it, so it was awful cute. I loved how the actors "flew" across the stage attached to bungie cords. Looked like so much fun! I couldn't get the song "I won't grow up" out of my head for days after the performance.

As most of you know, Peter Pan's main theme is not growing up, or staying young, carefree, spirited and imaginative forever. Childhood represents these things, where being adult represents responsibility, stress and logical thinking and decisions. I like to think of myself as an adult, even though I am still spirited and sometimes imaginative, though I don't hold a candle to the imaginations of my nephews and niece. They can keep busy for hours playing "pretend" and creating places, people and situations in their minds.

I guess my question is, when do we grow up? When do we stop being carefree and excited about everything? Is it in high school when we have a lot of homework and extracurriculars or does it start in college when we break away from our parent's guidance for the first time? Do some people never grow up? Do they stay in that imaginative state forever? I don't think I've met anyone yet that is completely childlike in that manner yet, but that doesn't mean they don't exist! Can we combine certain parts of adulthood and childhood to make us more well-rounded and happy? I'm really not sure but I like to think so. I think completely letting go of the wonders of being a kid seems quite depressing. What do you think?


Just some thoughts for this Wednesday! Hope all is well with my nuggets!