I Don't Wanna Grow Up
Questions from Sunday Brunch.

1. Do you watch cartoons?

No. Who needs cartoons when there's the 2004 election to watch?

2. Ever buy a box of cereal (for yourself) just for the prize inside?

Think 50s.

In every box of Kellogg's Pep, you get a statuette!

The jingle was so catchy that I knew I had to have one. So, I asked my parents to buy some Kellogg's Pep. Then, I asked them what a statuette was.

The cereal tasted awful, but I was an honest child and ate it as promised. The statuette was a very uninteresting, flat, monotone plastic horse.

Even at that very young age, I was unimpressed. It was the beginning of a lifelong skepticism about advertising.

3. Do you ever go to the playground to play on the swings, slide or teeter totter?

Yes, I have a granddaughter who can talk me into almost anything.

When she was 3, she talked me into wading in the cold creek that runs through our property. It turned out to be fun. We hauled a little plastic table and two lawn chairs out into a shallow area, got a basket of beach toys and dishes and spent many hours out in the water. It's become a summer tradition.

4. Do you occasionally pout, throw tantrums or cry to get what you want?

Certainly not! Never!

5. How long has it been since you've done something childlike (for example: ride a bike, play marbles, jump rope, build a sand castle)?

Yesterday. Granddaughter Kimmy was here. We put together a bird feeder kit and painted it, made cookies, and went swimming at the family swim in the wonderful warm therapy pool at Kalamazoo Valley Orthopedics.

Kimmy and her swimming acquaintance Amy, also there with a Grandma, carried their Grandmas around the pool like babies, giggling all the way. I'm sure the other families thought we were very strange. But they smiled anyway.

What childish delights have you indulged in lately?