by Katie Lane

Created on: October 04, 2008

"Excuse me, sir," I say, poking at an older gentleman and giggling when he turns around. I hold up a flower- a daisy, something I just plucked from the ground, and I thrust it out to him- "have a good day!"

I'm fifteen years old, and my friends are looking at me like I'm insane. But this happens often- perhaps, too often. I giggle, I snuggle with my teddy bear, ice cream can heal any level of injury and tutus are my favourite item of clothing. Some day, I will be a princess, and I will have as many pink clothing items as I want, as well as a room filled with candy canes.

Does this sound familiar to any of you? Am I the only one? Maybe these thoughts are reserved for nine year olds, but I for one am not ready to grow up. The simple art of playing dolls with my nine-year-old best friend is something that is never lost on me. I still love to finger paint and have imaginary tea parties with all of my imaginary friends.

Is it immature? Is it wrong? I don't think so. Keeping an inner child alive is something that is healthy and relaxing to me. If the stress of chemistry gets too hard or I can't stand another minute of pre-calculus, the giggling, bouncy world of the small girl within me is there to help me relax. I love being able to slip into a dream land that helps me get away from the stress of everyday life.

It's all about being random, spontaneous. If I see something that I feel the urge to do, I do it. If I want to tell that one person across the street that he has amazing hair, and then ask him for a hug, I'll do it. My nine-year-old self did this, why shouldn't I be able to now?

Who says age is a limiting factor? I'm continually flabbergasted at so-called adults' who are barely past the age of twenty saying that they can't do this or that because they are too old'. Have they lost all sense of spontaneity?

Going out and buying ice cream and then skipping through the rain is something that doesn't need to be planned- it just /happens./ So many good things in life just /happen./ Falling in love just /happens./ Why shouldn't I make things happen?

So this is how I keep my inner child alive: I'll never let the world tell me what to do, what I should think, what I should wear, what I should be. I'll continually sing into my hair brush. I'll sing along to the Backstreet Boys when they come up on my shuffle. And, when the toils of life are getting me down, I'll hand some old man a daisy and giggle.

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