riant
[rahy-uh nt, ree-; French ryahn]
- laughing; smiling; cheerful.
**********************************
“Hey,
Phil, you remember when we could do that?” Joe asked. He nodded towards the children laughing and
running around the public playground.
“Do
what? Run?”
“No. Well, yeah, I guess. But it’s more of the way they’re
running. They’re happy. They don’t know why, but they are. I mean, when was the last time you were that
happy? Happy for no reason other than the
fact that you were happy.”
Phil
leaned on the thick plastic fence and thought about the question.
“It’s
been awhile.” He said. It took him far
too long to arrive at the answer.
Both men
gazed at the children as they ran around aimlessly, laughing at nothing in
particular.
“What
happened to us?” Joe asked. “We used to
be able to do that. We used to be able
to run around like that. So why’d we
stop?”
“That’s
easy. We grew up. We got older and life took hold of us. Those kids can run and play like that because
life, real life, is mostly ignoring them.
In forty years or so, they’ll be just like us.”
“Yeah, I
guess so.” Joe said with a sigh. He felt
the weight of his age. He had mostly
been ignoring the aches and pains that built up over the years, but he suddenly
felt every single one of them. “You
know, it’s funny. When we’re kids, we
can’t wait to grow up and be an adult.
But now that we are, we just wish we were kids again.”
“Perspective,
my friend, perspective. When we’re kids,
we only see the good parts of being an adult.
Money, a car. Freedom to do
whatever we want. Now that we know, we
realize it’s the opposite, and long for the times when everything was so
simple. When we could run around for no
reason and be just fine.”
The two
of them retreated into their minds, processing what had just been said. Even Phil was a bit surprised by his own
words. He had no idea he could be so philosophical. It was several long minutes before Joe spoke.
“Think we
can still do that?”
“What,
run around with those kids?”
“Yeah. I mean, why couldn’t we? We’re not that old, right?”
“We’re
not exactly young either. Besides, we’re not in the best shape we’ve ever been.”
Phil patted his developing beer belly.
Joe
looked down at his own softening body and ran his hands through his not quite
as thick as it used to be hair. “We can
still give it a try, right?”
“Somehow
I don’t think any of the people our age would approve of us running around with
their kids.”
Joe
looked around at all the parents standing around the park or sitting on
benches. Most of them would indeed
disprove of two men in their 40s running around with children for no apparent
reason. There was even one ornery
looking woman who looked like she was just waiting for an excuse to call the
cops on someone.
Joe
sighed. “Guess it really is impossible
to be as happy as a kid again, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”
“Growing
up sucks.”
**********************************
I think this song is relevant, don't you? That's all I'll say, because anything else might be a bit...depressing for some people.
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