Childhood

There are some who think Jeff and I are having a mid-life crisis.  Could be, could be...but I prefer to think that we are two hard-working people making the most of the time we have left in a society that seems as if it could fail in a moment's notice.

I could also say, "This is not a mid-life crisis, this is my second childhood."  Except it's not.  I never really had a childhood.  I was cooking complete meals by the time I was 6.  Made my first Thanksgiving feast at 8, had my first part-time job at 10, full-time job at 14.  That was back when people didn't check your ID for most things.  I even had my own apartment at 16.  I loved the things I was doing; cooking, working, living on my own and didn't even realize other people didn't live that way.

Meeting Jeff was the best thing that ever happened to me.  It maybe wasn't "love at first sight", but it was pretty much "this is the best friend I will ever have".  At least it was for me.

For the 32 years that I have known Jeff, he has done everything possible to give me the childhood I never had.  He taught me to ride a bike at 27.  I was terrible at it.  He took me camping for the first time; I think I was 29.  I hated it.  Now, I love riding and come closer to liking camping.  I hate bugs and discomfort, but I am starting to like fires and being outdoors.

One year, Jeff put Christmas stockings everywhere in our house; one for every year I hadn't had one.  He encourages me to play.   To him, my play includes bike riding, hiking, cooking for pleasure instead of necessity, playing games and relaxing.  Such novelty!!!

My first fat bike ride!

In the spring, we discovered some very good friends were in Orlando while we were in Tampa.  We drove over for a day to see Epcot with them.  They are the kind of people that you can be "kids" with, totally outrageous.

We found out the same friends would once again be in Orlando while we were going to be in Florida.  We scheduled ourselves into a nearby RV resort so we could spend time with them.  We went to "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" at the Magic Kingdom.  Magic was the key word.  This is not something Jeff and I would have done on our own, but with Fatboy and Sassy, it was like seeing only the good side of Disney and none of the negative.  Normally, I don't care for parades, but this was so amazing!  All the Disney characters and more.  And particularly, on this day, the Disney cast members all seemed to be in phenomenal spirits, full of holiday cheer!  I did, however, take the "Walk of Shame" and bail on Space Mountain.  As we stood in line, I became increasingly more concerned that it would mess up my back to the point I would be unable to walk.  I love roller coasters, so this was really hard.

On Saturday, we met up with Fatboy and Sassy again; this time at Universal Islands of Adventure.  I went on the Hippogriff roller coaster so got my fix that way.  We also went on the ride through Hogwarts which was so cool!  The ride got stuck for about 10 minutes while we were dangling in front of a huge dragon head.  Such a blast!  There was even a restaurant with gluten-free meals so we could eat like a normal person instead of nibbling at nuts and protein bars.  The temperatures had been in the mid-80s for several days so it was perfect for water rides.  The Popeye and Bluto Blige Rats was the most water fun I remember ever having!  The entire day was a child's fantasy and I loved every minute of it!!!  We polished off the visit with our friends with a luau at their hotel; another first for me.  Polynesian flavors and extremely attractive hula dancers (male and female) ended the day on a perfect note.  It was really hard to see them leave the mid-80s here and return to a snow storm in NJ.

Awesome friends make for awesome times!!!

So, I can't commit myself totally to this "childhood" thing.  There are still bills to be paid, meals to be shopped for and created, housework to do and the part-time job bookkeeping for the bike shop.  But I am trying to capture every minute of childhood possible.  There are a few more physical paybacks than a child would have, but it is definitely worth it!