To Whom It May Concern

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult in
order to accept the responsibilities of a 6 year old.

The tax base is lower. I want to be six again.I want to go to
McDonald'* and think it'* the best place in the world to eat. I
want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make waves with
rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money 'cause you can
eat them. I want to play kickball during recess and stay up on
Christmas Eve waiting to hear Santa and Rudolph on the roof. I
long for the days when life was simple. When all you knew were
your colors, the addition tables and simple nursery rhymes, but
it didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know,
and you didn't care.

I want to go to school and have snack time, recess, gym, and field
trips. I want to be happy because I don't know what should make
me upset. I want to think the world is fair, and everyone in it
is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible.

Sometime, while I was maturing, I learned too much. I learned of
nuclear weapons, prejudice, starving and abused kids, lies,
unhappy marriages, illness, pain and mortality. I want to be six
again.

I want to think that everyone, including myself, will live forever
because I don't know the concept of death. I want to be oblivious
to the complexity of life, and be overly excited by the little
things again. I want television to be something I watch for fun,
not something I use for escape from the things I should be doing.
I want to live knowing the little things I find exciting will
always make me as happy as when I first learned them.....I want
to be six again.

I remember not seeing the world as a whole, but rather being aware
of only the things that directly concerned me. I want to be naive
enough to think that if I'm happy, so is everyone else. I want to
walk down the beach and think only of the sand beneath my feet,
and the possibility of finding that blue piece of sea glass I'm
looking for. I want to spend my afternoons climbing trees and
riding my bike, letting the grownups worry about time, the
dentist, and how to find the money to fix the old car. I want to
wonder what I'll do when I grow up, and what I'll be, who I'll
be, and not worry about what I'll do if this doesn't work out. I
want that time back. I want to use it now as an escape, so that
when my computer crashes, or I have a mountain of paperwork, or
two depressed friends, or a fight with my significant other, or
bittersweet memories of times gone by, or second thoughts about
so many things, I can travel back, and build a snowman, without
thinking about anything except whether the snow sticks together,
and what I can possibly use for the snowman'* mouth.

I want to be six again, especially now, as Christmas approaches.
I want to expect nothing except presents and goodies. No terrorism,
no fears, no worries. Expecting only that Santa coming 'cause I've
been good (and somehow, mysteriously, even if I've not been all
that good?). No unemployment or job worries, no taking care of
ailing, elderly parents, no homeless in the streets. No aching
joints or blurred vision, just the joy of Christmas and meeting
with all my friends to share what we got.

I want to be six again.