The Age Requirement for Fun

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and spend a couple minutes thinking to myself, "Why did I act like a juvenile last night?" The thing about this thought is for me, it only lasts a couple minutes. The real questions are, "Did I laugh? Did I have fun? Did the people with me laugh and have fun?" If the answer to these other questions is yes, it's clear that the initial question has no meaning in the sense of anything that's real.

Not to go all Robert Fulghum on you, but there are things we learn as children that we forget as adults. We forget how to laugh at the absurd. We forget that how other people perceive us is unimportant if we are enjoying ourselves. We forget that to have true connections with others in this world, we have to cease being individuals for a second and just laugh together.

In honor of Robert Fulghum (Author of All I Ever Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten):


If We Only Knew Now, What We Knew Then.

1. Holding hands will keep you from getting lost.
2. Being barefoot is far better than having shoes on. This is especially true on a rainy day.
3. Candy tastes better before dinner than after.
4. Anything that doesn't make you laugh or have fun is unnecessary.
5. Anything you create with love is beautiful. (I made some hideous macaroni necklaces for my Mom, and thought they were the best thing ever.)
6. Chalk +Sidewalk=Hours of awesome.
7. The best games are the ones that come from your imagination.
8. There is always an invisible friend nearby to give you direction. (As an adult it's my higher self, as a child her name was Julie.)
9. Play time is essential.
10. Anything shaped like a ball can lead to hours of enjoyment. (Rubber, clay, wood, glass, meat... the possibilities are endless)


Remember what you lost when you grew up. Be a delinquent, have fun. Life is too short to take anything too seriously. Don't regret anything. But most importantly remember, anything that doesn't make you laugh or have fun is unnecessary. The soul grows more with laughter than tears.