Growing Up

Maybe, ... I am really growing up now. Oh, I'm not really betting on it yet.
I'm nearly 52. I still behave like a teenager with access to a bank account, credit cards and wheels just waiting to take me anywhere I feel like going. Gosh, I love my wife! She still let's me go out to play. I have five kids ... uh, she has six.
I really do live a willy nilly existence and I think it helps me feel a bit younger. Well, ... I just had one of those weekends that was a bit like taking a tour with the ghost of Christmas Past. Where did the years go?
I saw the last of our five children graduate high school and had another daughter leave for Army combat basic training on the same weekend. It was a bit over-whelming. Emotional ping pong. That's the kind of day that make ya feel a little older. OK, I will admit I have a few gray hairs now ... mixed in with the ones that are completely white. I feel tired quicker than I used to. Naps have become great entertainment between acting retarded for my 5 grandkids. I have pills for everything. Wrinkles! Yes, and now ... I have discovered I even have smaller wrinkles in my wrinkles.
I don't ride the rides at amusement parks anymore. I'd rather photograph them from the parking lot than feel weird. I mean weird like ... Is that a heart attack or just gas? I am the idiot that was rushed to emergency with chest pains after eating 2 bags of salsa flavored sunflower seeds. Get off my back ... they were good. I coulda ate three bags.
I listen to music louder than ever because my wife swears I can't hear anything she says. I have been told that my favorite word is "Huh". Q-tips are now as important as soap. It isn't that I don't want to hear ... I just can't. Honey can you fix the washing machine? Huh?
Not only could my boys kick and enjoy kicking my butt ... but this has now also become true of my daughters. I ache! I used to be able to throw a football 53-55 yards (not that long ago). Now, I just own a football. Warming up is critical before I warm up. I wear snow gear to football games in October just to keep my blood flowing.
My kids, usually led by Braff Zackton mock me openly because they know I won't waste the energy to get up and challenge them. I have to remind people that I used to be more active and that I had a pulse that was easy to find. I wonder sometimes if I should just get my name and address tattooed to me so that they know where to take me when I wander off aimlessly.
But am I really growing up? Nope! In fact, I really wonder how many of you feel like your growing up versus just getting a higher number attached to your age. I think I want to continue feeling young by doing stupid things right up to the end. I hope I can do some really embarrassing things for my kids to have to witness. That would be awesome! I might even be able to fake it for a few years just to get them back. "Mom, Dad wet his pants again!"
It's one thing to remember having a foolish period of time in your life ... but I might just prefer being stupid forever.
Yeah, that's me!
NikonSniper Steve