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When did life get to be such a chore? When did we all grow up so much that we have actually believed that it is a badge of honor to have the ability to make even the simple things way too complicated? What happened to our childlike faith and our youthful invincibility and our naïve but persevering approach to champion the capacity to really go after our dreams and shoot for the accomplishment of our highest of hopes? When did we buy into accepting the status quo as the right road to go? When did we buy the lie that we are too tired and too old and too locked in to be let loose once again? When did we allow our lives to be drained of its color?

I want to share with all of you as my Valentine’s Day gift, a wonderful email I was sent the other day. I have altered it just a bit to give it the “Rudy” touch. It reminded me that fairy tales really still do come true- as a matter of fact- they still can happen to me and you if we stay young at heart and are willing to still live life rather than just put in our time with no greater goal other than trying to make it through another day.

MY RESIGNATION AS AN ADULT…
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to embrace the outlook of an 8 year-old child once again. I want to go to eat a rare and juicy hamburger and think it’s the best piece of filet mignon. I want to jump in the puddles after the rain and go romping in my backyard looking to catch the flakes on my tongue during the next winter snow. I want to go to sleep tonight with the transistor radio under my pillow and allow the music of yesteryear to be the soundtrack of my dreams for tomorrow.

I want to think that the greatest thing in the all the world is a new pack of baseball cards, or getting to watch my favorite show on television and spending quality time with the ones I love. I want to linger at the dinner table and chew my food rather than inhale it because I have to hurry to get back to work. I even want to anticipate dessert once again. I actually want to treat myself to a Reece’s Pieces Sundae with Butter Crunch Ice Cream with no worries of what it is going to do to my cholesterol. And I want to reinstate the importance of including some recess time into my life and provide significant minutes where I make playing just as high a priority as I make working.

I want to be a student again and rather than becoming overwhelmed with all I don’t know- I will just take the simple steps to learning something new and wonderful with each day. I want to once again make being with my friends even more important than what we are actually doing. I want to be part of a group that believes they can restore justice and make things right like my all time action hero Zorro! “Out of the Night- when the Full Moon is bright- comes the Horsemen known as Rudy!!” I want to believe that anything is possible and I want to become oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things once again. I want to live again. I want to laugh every single day. I want to have the wit of the Marx Brothers, the ingenuity of the Little Rascals, experience the adventures of Robin Hood with the enthusiasm and vertical leap of Peter Pan.

I want my days to consist of something more than heartburn and ulcers and stress and anxiety and high blood pressure. I want to still be able to every now and then climb dirt hills and not just do mountains of paper work. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, faith, peace, dreams and be in a place where you are still encouraged to use your imagination. So here is my official resignation as an adult for even Jesus himself said that unless you become as a little child, you will never see the kingdom of heaven and there is no way I want to miss that party! So if you want to discuss this any further, you’re going to have to catch me first, because “TAG- YOU’RE IT!”

To prove that these are not just empty words written on a piece of paper that just amount to nothing more than another nice sermon- I am applying some actual walk to my talk. I have been revisiting some of the wonderful television programs that we grew up watching like Zorro and Father Knows Best and Donna Reed and The Honeymooners and Ozzie and Harriet via DVD and sharing them with my family. We have been listening to Classic Old Time Radio on Sirius/XM being entertained by programs like Fibber McGee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve and Suspense and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar where you have to use your imagination rather than have everything spelled out for you. I have been reading more than I have ever have before and taking the time to be with those I love rather than just bump into each like two ships that pass in the night. It is not like I am trying to live in the past. It is more like I am trying to recapture my present before there are no more future days to depend upon. Wherever you are- be all there because it might be the last time we get that chance!

So I will meet you on the sandlot after school where we will pick up sides for a game of baseball! And then we will play our hearts out like it is Game 7 of the World Series until the last ray of daylight remains. We will then go home gather around the supper table- chow down on some macaroni and just cherish the moment and perish the thought that I don’t have a choice to make every minute a memory! Stop pushing me around adulthood- cause I am going to push back and stay golden through it all!