My previous blog referring to Neverland has been on my mind as I recently celebrated my 30th birthday. I have been dreading leaving my twenties. I love birthdays, but detest aging. Most people have been telling me, “You still look so young. What’s the big deal?” Hello, TIME is a big deal! Thirty years sounds like quite a long time, but it went by way too quickly. I can only imagine that thirty more years will seem to slip away even faster. “I suppose it’s like the ticking crocodile, isn’t it? Time is chasing after all of us.” Many days I wish I could be Wendy…with just a little golden pixie dust from Peter Pan, I could fly away to Neverland and make the choice to not grow up.
Life was so easy and carefree as a child. No difficult questions to wrestle with, no decisions to make, no worries at all. Just living life one day at a time, wishing upon stars, and enjoying the land of make-believe we created with our wanderlust imaginations. Can we just get back to those days? Can we go back in time to a simpler time? I find it so ironic that when we were young, we spent our days longing for future days of when we could be older and do more exciting things in life. And when we are older, we yearn for our past days…to get to be young and free again. It all seems like unfortunate timing. If I could fly away to another time and place, I’d tell my younger self to not wish to grow up so quickly. Because in the riveting words of Peter Pan, “Once you’re grown up, you can never come back. Never.”
Time is a concept I often wrestle with. Unfortunately, we have yet to figure out time travel, so I guess I’m not winning that fight. When Wendy decides to go back home and grow up, she eventually tells her children about her wonderful adventures with Peter Pan. The same can be true for us. I hope that my future will be filled with many more adventures for my mind to fly back to in the future past said future. “Think of the happiest things, it’s the same as having wings…There’s a Neverland waiting for you, where all your happy dreams come true. When there’s a smile in your heart, there’s no better time to start. Think of all the joy you’ll find when you leave the world behind and bid your cares goodbye…you can fly, you can fly, you can fly, you can fly, YOU CAN FLY!”
Growing up is for the birds. But so is flying! HA! I want to be mindful of the present, which truly is a gift, and not wish my life away. Because at the end of every day, the glaring reality is that our present then becomes part of our past. So…thirty years old…time to grow up, right? Like it or not, it’s inevitable, but we can say goodbye without forgetting Neverland.
“The clock is ticking faster now; I’m too old to be growing up…I’ll leave the pirate ships to kids who don’t know anything; I’ll be every bit the person we both already know I’ll be. Wake up, wake up, it’s time to be a man…Wave goodbye as I outgrow the shadow of Peter Pan. It’s time to be a man.” ~ Relient K
(I watched the live action movie Peter Pan (2003) today for some inspiration. I HIGHLY recommend it.)
July 24, 2017
Blue Moon Muse 