2/21/2006

THE LITTLE BOY INSIDE

This morning I woke up knowing I had to take a shower. But I didn't want to. I just wanted to go to work (which often times seems more like play these days) and get on with the day. Taking a shower seemed like a drag and an interuption that just shouldn't be necessary.

When I was a boy, I didn't like taking baths. They always came at the most inopportune moments, like when I was in the middle of playing a game of basketball with my brothers. Mom couldn't help it, she just wanted her children to be clean. I, on the other hand, couldn't understand why a boy couldn't go for weeks, even months without a bath. It just seemed a waste of time. "I'm just going to get dirty again, Mom." I would always answer.

That's how I feel this morning. Oh, not to worry, I took the shower. But that little boy inside of me kicked and screamed all the way.

And so I ask myself, what is it about the little boy inside of me who refuses to die?

We are all still children inside, wearing haloween masks that look like adults who have it all together. When does this masquerade party end? I think the child inside of us hopes it ends as soon as possible, so he can get back to the serious business of playing without anymore adult interuptions.

Go ahead, feed the little child inside of you. You can't kill him, ya know. He's been there all along, and when the mask of adulthood is gone, that little child you once were will still be healthy and alive.

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