Wouldn’t life be straightforward if we could continue being children forever? If we could look at the world from a babe’s perspective, with open-mindedness and imagination.

The majority of you will have played ‘mummies and daddies’ when you were younger. Those perfectionistic ideas of the world, where happy families come with a mother, father, daughter and son. Where the familial home is filled with magical spaces of wonder. Where imagination can roam free, unaware of any trails or tribulations that may be bubbling away under the surface.

Being a child is fun.

Being a child is carefree.

Being a child is freedom.

We went furniture shopping this week, to look for furnishings to put into the flat we are moving into. We went to see the priest, to discuss married life. We went to a fabric store and looked at potential curtains for a child’s bedroom.

We tried our best to be ‘grown ups’.

But that is all it was. It was an attempt, an endeavour, a ‘trying our best’. Very much a case of talking the talk without walking the walk.

At the age of twenty eight, I think it is fair to say that in some ways, emotionally, I am there. I can talk to just about anyone, any age, any background, and there will be something that I will be able to draw upon as common ground.

Where I am less ‘grown up’ is in the other emotional maturities.

It occurred to me the other day that really, I am just pretending to be something that I am so obviously not. What I love the most in life is behaving in a childlike manner, exploring at every given opportunity, having no ties to any particular place, having minimal responsibilities to anything of particular value, and making fun wherever I can.

Where I am lucky, is that I have found a man (or should I say boy?!) who shares the same outlook.

Our lives do not need to be the same as everyone else’s. Who says that we cannot live our lives striving for adventure, using our imaginations and exploring new and exciting possibilities. Just because we will have bills to pay, promises to uphold and chores to complete, who says that we have to live like ‘grown ups’.

And so I have realised, as I have said time and time again.

Life is short.

When you come to the end, what would you prefer to remember?

That you worked round the clock, in a job you despised, to put money on the table to buy gadgets you do not need, in order to play your minimal role in society.

Or do you want to remember all the journeys you chose, all the amazing people you met, all the relationships you made, and all the laughter you were a part of.

To me, the choice is easy. Why would I want to be a grown up when I can still be a child? I know there may come a time when it will be essential to use my adultness, but as it is I choose to see the world through a babe’s eyes.

I choose to carry on playing ‘mummies and daddies’.

I choose to fill my life with adventure.

I choose to live.