Impulsive Extemporaneous Me

The saddest part of losing it was not realising it was lost in the first place!  Oh, you can mock age related degenerative memory but admit it, when was the last time you were spontaneous? Oh, dear, you can't remember?

Well, I've found it! The freedom of yielding to sudden impulse, seizing a spur of the moment opportunity and not doing the expected or planned. Spontaneity. 

We were born with this treasure and lost it along the way to grown up-hood. Note, grown up, not adult.  Officially we are adults somewhere around 18 or so, but growing up is a choice and once you've bought property, a mode of transport or birthed offspring, you've grown up.

Bills, responsibilities and the chilling prospect of rearing young humans rapidly sucks impulse from each and every cell in our bodies.  You're adulting when your own, miserably serious and sensible parents spew unbidden from your lips. Money saving lifestyle habits like packed lunches, travel mugs and switching off lights are the norm and snuggling up in front of an old dvd is more appealing that donning stilettos and queuing for hours to get into a club. Hey, tomorrow's a work day, remember?

I'm caught up in the sight of carefree children squealing with delight, spinning round in circles and falling into dizzy heaps or begging to be pushed higher and higher on the swing.  How quickly their attention switches, one minute totally absorbed in something which is rapidly discarded when another, more interesting nugget passes by.  No responsibilities or duties weighing them down.

One of 2016's most satisfying moments for me was hearing No 2 Son wail about how 'adulting' was killing him - lectures, car ownership, managing his student digs and life on his own had sucked all the joy from his 21 year old soul. Ha. Payback, baby!

Ahem. We are the anchors of our own lives.  Eagerly swallowing tons of tie-me-downs like krill-munching Humpback whales, we wallow in uber-organised sensibleness.  But it doesn't have to be so and when an unplanned trip into the Kruger National Park to meet a visiting friend for lunch morphed into 'we have room in our chalet, stay the night' it took one very deep breath, a visit to the Park shop for a toothbrush and Bob's your uncle, I played truant from my own life.  

Now how sad is that?