Is the child inside you still alive?

nope, already dissolved by stomach acid and enzymes

Without the inner child life isn’t worth living. When does one really smell the aroma of freshly cut grass or the air after a rain? Or really feel the breeze as it blows? Or notice how blue the sky is or how green the grass is?

It is so necessary. I am currently trying very hard to be kind to mine. She was a lost soul that lingered around me for most of my life due to early abuse/neglect. Now, apparently, it is my job to take her out to play or pacify her.
I really don’t play well. It’s something I find hard. The other night she watched Barbie and Ken movies on YouTube and seemed to enjoy that!

Yep. And he doesn’t like being grown up. He is a thing I hold dear.

I pity those who try to be “mature.” As long as it’s not in a professional setting.

Yes. I am as immature and disorganized as I was when I was eight. I still watch cartoons and animated moves with equal passion. I get fascinated by Christmas decorations and get caught up in the hollyday euphoria. I don’t climb trees. but I do get excited upon seeing a lady bug.

It is necessary for my identity to remain a kid. If I became adult, I wouldn’t be myself anymore.

Yes, still there but now trapped in an aging body, a self-destructive nature and painful psyche. The child is very much there to the point where I feel I should have molted ages ago. Somehow that molting process never occured. It is certainly not normal for an adult to have such childlike qualities. There’s a time for everything and I guess I have never quite accepted that. :(

Not since I got an abortion. ;-p

I try to keep the little shit alive, but as I get older it gets harder and harder.

^^ it ain’t that hard..It might vary from person to person though..!

Much more so than when I had greater responsibilities and influence over other people’s lives. It is liberating and I agree 100% with @kritiper‘s statement above.

If I couldn’t have kept some of my inner child alive, some poetry in my life, some blind romanticism, like all the wonder and curiosity of nature, especially of the sea, I would have become one incorrigible hardass.

Playdoh, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and strawberry milk, and making up silly songs, yep, I’m totally in touch with my inner 6 year old.

Certainly, and he is coming more to the fore as I get older.

<<<< Me as a sexy xmas lady…giggles

I find that I have retained my inner child’s sense of awe and wonder, and in some ways it has increased as I have gotten older. For example, when I was a child, giving birth did not seem like such a big deal. Now when I think of it, it just seems so extraordinary that such a process can take place.

He is, but he’s taken quite a beating over the years.

Absolutely! Put a Red Ryder or Crosman Legacy 1000 in my hands and he immediately comes out!

Yep, very much so…even though I tried like hell to kill him off. We are on good terms now…and we are both much healthier…

@luckyguy – when did you start using them?

At 55 I decided that if I was ever going to get pink hair now should be the time!

They say that there is a kernel of good even in the worst of us. I don;t thing the rest of us are able to see that kernel if we haven’t kept our inner child alive. Maybe it’s a case of one inner child recognizing another.

I’m more adventurous and awed by new things now than when I was a child.

I was born again when I retired 2 years ago and discovered Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing. All I want to to is paddle. Such great joy and friendships I’ve found. Never felt anything as good. Love it!

This is me with Nappy – on the right) just after our 2nd place finish (Men’s Kuhuna) at Molokai Hoe Hawaiian outrigger canoe race from Molokai to Oahu (41 miles).

My team also came in 2nd at the “Pailolo Challenge” (Maui to Molokai 26 miles) and at Kona’s “Queen Lili’uokoalani” 18 mile race.

Good for you @gondwanalon . I am a fellow canoeist. I paddle as much as possible. I’ve been designing my own outrigger for a bit,and will be constructing it soon. It will greatly improve my fishing experiences with the better balance. And make my trips a little safer. I currently paddle alligator infested swamps and inercoastal (salt)waterways . Not good places to tip over.

I’ve always dreamt of paddling in the gorgeous waters of the Pacific.

Keep it up. I envy you.

Peace n love.

@MrGrimm888 Paddling (canoes, kayaks, surf-ski’s etc.) is such great exercise. Very low impact and a full body workout (including legs and core).

I’ve flipped (huli’d) a few times while I was learning, and paddling in ruff water. I’m very fast at putting the canoe upright and jumping back on. An alligator would have to act quickly to get me. HA!

Good luck with your outrigger design. I’ve designed an inflatable outrigger canoe and I submitted my sketches to “Sea Eagle” (A huge inflatable boat company). One guy there told me that my drawings are beautiful and he loves my idea. I don’t expect any money. I just want a free inflatable outrigger canoe. HA!

Speaking of paddling in the Pacific. My exercise journal shows that when all the distances of the races and workouts are added for 2016, there’s more than enough miles to paddle from San Francisco, California to Hilo, Hawaii.

Specifically I picked the absolute closest points from the mainland to Hawaii. My charted paddling course starts from the Flumeville Point near Point Arena of California about 120 miles up the coast from San Francisco and goes to the northeastern edge of the Island of Hawaii near Hilo (Kumukahi Light House). Total of 2285 miles. Do I like to paddle or what! HA!

Good health!

Aloha buddy!

^Sounds awesome!

I got myself a cotton candy machine for Christmas, and a pair of shoes with flashing lights in the soles. They are rechargeable.

^^Nice..))

I have a stash of Tootsie Pops! :-)

When I had a hot tub on my elevated patio over a ravine and creek I bought giant bazooka water guns that shot a 60 ft. jet of water.
I would sit in my hot tub and “shoot” my neighbors sheep down the hill below my deck. haha
Great childish fun!

@imrainmaker I was about 8 when i first got a BB gun.
I recently got into pellet guns again after I started looking at how they’ve been updated. Many shoot at supersonic speeds and are quite powerful.
I bought a couple just to see how they managed to seal such high pressures for such a long time. Genius.

The Crosman Benjamin Marauder has a 215 CC air cylinder that is used to power about 40 shots of .22 cal pellets at over 850 ft/sec. The tank holds pressure at 3000+ psi for months with no measurable decay. Yet it is able to be fired instatnly. I wanted to know how they did that. Now I know.

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