Falling leaves, red, orange, yellow, and brown embrace my feet. It’s a wonderful sound as the leaves crunch under my white tennis shoes. It takes everything in me not to make a ginormous pile of leaves and jump into them, sending each leaf into disarray. I mean, why can’t I? Why does a twenty-one-year-old woman have to stop herself from jumping into leaves? For some reason, jumping into leaves is something only children are allowed to do.  But why?  

Come to think of it, there are so many things that children can get away with, but adults can’t. My favorite activity as a child was running outside on a chilly, beautiful, white snowy day, and opening my mouth wide to catch a snowflake on my dark rosy tongue. If I did that today, I’d probably get a massive stare-down from every “Karen” on the street. “What is that woman doing? Quick! Notify the town mayor because tasting snow in this city should be illegal. Make it illegal… NOW!” 

I mean that’s how it’d go in my head, but who knows, maybe someone would think it’s endearing how I still have some childlike spirit inside. Maybe someone would make a movie about a woman who lost their childlike spirit, but then it grew three times one magical day, just like the Grinch’s heart. Let me hear some Whos sing! Grow my spirit!

Remember when you were a child, and you’d go into the boring bank with your mother and leave with a colorful sucker. The bank teller would hold out a bowl and let you pick from a green, blue, purple, red, orange, pink, or yellow sucker, and you were seen as cute when you couldn’t decide what color you wanted, so then you’d be told to grab a second one. I’ve never seen an adult be offered a sucker. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but adults like suckers too! Apparently, that’s never made it through people’s thick skulls, but I promise it’s true. 

Adults shouldn’t have to hide their childlike side if they don’t want to. We were all children once. It comes from somewhere. If you see a bunch of leaves when you’re out hiking, feel free to scoop them up and jump in shouting YIPPEEE! Chances are that the people looking at you like you just escaped from a mental hospital are people you’ll never see again… probably. If you want to run outside in your pajamas and stick your tongue out to catch a snowflake this coming winter, then do it. The neighbor’s dog might judge, but who is he going to tell anyway? And if you want a sucker from the bank, I guess you could ask, but who knows if they even give them out anymore. If they look at you like you’re a weirdo, then embrace the weirdo.