Southern by the Grace: February 2012

I recently ran across an article titled "Top five regrets of the dying" via The Guardian news. (See entire article here.) According to this piece, the top five regrets of those on their deathbeds are the following:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2.I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

I recently lost a very close friend, and I'd be lying if I said that death hasn't been weighing heavily on my mind recently. This article surprisingly didn't provoke thoughts of death for me, though. Instead, as I was reading through the list, I began to think that each of these things is so very childlike... in the best possible way.

1. Children don't care what others think of them. They will approach anyone and befriend anyone without the insecure notions that plague us as we age.
2. Children don't live from paycheck to paycheck. They have the luxury of not having to do so yet. They DO know how to lose themselves instantly and enjoy the moment though, something that we too often forget when we get caught up in the rat race.
3. Children are honest to the point of having no filter sometimes. They definitely don't hide their feelings though. Children are the first to say "I love you" and the first to reach out for a hug.
4. Children live for their friends. They don't see a divide between social classes, race or income.
5. There is no noise greater than that of a full-bellied eruption of laughter from a child. Kids haven't forgotten yet how to be happy. They see the world with wonder and not as a place of evil.

All of these realizations struck me as common sense. It's hard to "forget" how to be an adult. It's hard to go back to a place of no cares when there are bills to pay, classes to pass, appointments to make and obligations to fulfill. Since I realize that this concept isn't just a switch that you can turn on and off, I decided to make my own list of child-like things that I'll never be too old for. Maybe these can remind me to take a minute to try to see the world as a place of endless possibilities, even if just for a few minutes.

I'll NEVER be too old for:

1. Hair Bows*