My Inner Child

Just because I'm 61 doesn't mean my inner child isn't there anymore. When we grow up it doesn't mean those things we played with as a child didn't influence our adult life we are living  now.
I loved playing Barbie as a child. She had that skinny little figure, beautiful hair, and fashion clothes I always wanted. Today there is Plus size Barbie with the big booty and large hips and Granny Barbie with the gray hair and wrinkles. Seems I got my wish, she was fashioned after me. And remember her Dream house, the one with the all the furnishings and lots of stuff? I may not live in my Dream house but I do have lots of stuff....way too much stuff, that I would love to downsize. And what's up with that game Candy Land, that we played over and over? Today, I still am playing that game. I eat them over and over...Snickers, M&M's, Hershey Bars. Its no wonder I look like Mr. Potato Heads wife!
I also played Hot Wheels for hours on end when babysitting. When I grew up, I owned my own Hot wheels. A convertible Mazda Miata. Matter of fact, I owned two. back to back. Loved the wind blowing in my hair, the thrill of the speed of the motor, and the fun road trips. Kept them shining and clean as a whistle. Today I drive a Dodge Truck that hauls two car seats and three children. Has chocolate stains on the back seat, and foot prints on the dash. Cant remember the last time I washed it.  Remember Gio Joe? I thought he was the roughest boy Toy out there, protecting our Country and could never die. Today there are sadly real Gio Joes who have to leave our Country to defend other Country's out of the United States. Many die fighting someone else's war.
I also could play Monopoly for hours on end in a day trying to buy all the property I landed on and trying to store up a Hugh amount of money in the bank. I think that game was the one game that taught me about the real world as an adult. I'm still trying to build up that bank account, store away all the money I can and take care of the five acres of property and two houses we own. All in hopes that our children will inherit our Monopoly we built up. Did I pass go? Many times in life, many times! But I never went to Jail!
I even played Marbles and thought I was pretty good at it. Those shinny round gems of different sizes fascinated me. Today, I would be totally scared if my grand's left them on the floor and I slipped on one, God forbid causing me to break a hip. And the only gems in my house are the shiny rocks I bought at Pottery Barn for a art project.  Did you have a Slinkey? I did. Made it walk up and down the stairs and fall back and forth between my hands. Don't like them now because they are still made of wire that the grand's could get wrapped around their necks or cut on, pulse that noise they make going back and forth is annoying! I had a Easy Bake Oven and a Creepy Crawler machine you could eat bugs you made....Are you kidding me! Today , I really don't care to bake and I wont get near a bug. Those must have been those types of toys that were designed to scare us later in life.
When I was a child I loved playing Jacks, pick up sticks, and Go Fish. Today I am picking up Cloths form the laundry, sticks in the yard, and the closest thing to fishing is when I go to the restaurant and order it.  Remember that board game, Operation?   The one with the tiny tweezers where you had to take out the bone, heart, and other stuff out of a fat body without touching the sides and making the buzzer go off? As an adult I haven't had any bones removed but someone must have hit the sides the two times I have broken my tail bone. I did have the buzzer go off when my bladder dropped and my female parts gave out. I guess that game caught up with me. I do still have all my teeth thou, but I wish my heart would quit getting hit on the sides and my knees would stop trying to give out.
I may be only 61 but my inner child still lingers as long as I don't look in the mirror and I keep playing hind and seek with my adult self. Hide my flaws, my wrinkles, my fat, my gray hair...
My inner child will always live in me and so will my most favorite toy of all. My Chatty Cathy!