We live in a culture where there is a drive to be young. All you have to do is turn on the television, flip on the internet, or open a newspaper/magazine to see/read some sort of advertisement whose stated goal is to make you look or feel younger. Dye your hair, rid yourself of wrinkles, enhance your energy etc. While I wish I had a full head of hair, when I wonder what it would be like to be younger again, it has nothing to do with the physical.
This morning my older son came down the stairs. He looked at my wife and I who were sitting and talking on the couch discussing our daily plans like football coaches game planning for the upcoming foe. Anyway, he had a smirk on his face even as he was wiping the tired out of his eyes, and he said, “It’s tomorrow, today.” He said it a second time, and that seemed to be his whole message. He was that excited for the trip we have planned to a water park later this week.
My younger son will be celebrating his 5th birthday in November. It will be the first birthday party we are making for him that will include his friends. He is talking about this party incessantly and invites and uninvites me on a regular basis. According to him, the birthday is tonight, and it should have been every night of the last two weeks. This morning I showed him a calendar. We sang the months of the year song that he learned in school. I then showed him that there are many days till his birthday. He shook his head that he understood and then a moment later informed that his birthday party was tonight.
Enthusiasm, pure and utter joy – that is what both boys are experiencing. Beautiful, just beautiful! So, while I really would love that full head of hair, I want what my children have. Like most adults, I no longer experience pure and utter joy. I hope they can retain that joy for as long as possible, and I will be content to live vicariously through them.