"I'll

never grow up! I'll never grow old! I want to stay a kid forever!"

Peter Pan said, and he was right.

For the last

20 years, I've been a firefighter and public safety educator. The educational

part of my job has allowed me to experience the joy of teaching children.

It's through the children that I have found a doorway into the past a

doorway which few adults can find, much less open and walk through.

Face it. Being

a grown-up ain't all it's cracked up to be. Let's examine being a grown-up

versus being a kid to see who's really better off.

When I was

a kid, all I wanted to do was to be an adult so I could have some responsibility

and be able to do anything I wanted to do. Now that I'm an adult all of

the responsibility that I have keeps me from doing the things I want to

do.

As a kid, I

couldn't wait 'til the day that I drove a car. One day I knew I would

take my new car and go on a great vacation.

As an adult,

I now have that new car, and the new car payment that goes with it. I

also have to pay for gas, insurance, repairs and a tag. I'm so busy paying

for all of these things that I don't have the time or money to go on that

vacation. Sometimes wanting is better than having. Kid vs. adult kid wins.

When I was

a kid, all I wanted to do was to grow up and get bigger. "When I

get bigger," I thought, "I'll be able to eat ice cream every

night, spend time playing and doing what I want to do and nobody will

tell me I need to get a haircut."

Now that I'm

bigger and all grown up, I can't eat ice cream any more too much fat content.

I don't have free time to play; I spend most of it in the gym exercising

to get small again, and I wish I had enough hair so somebody would tell

me I need a haircut. Kid vs. adult kid wins.

When I was

a kid, I had to take a 30-minute nap every afternoon. Even in school,

the teacher made us lie down with our blanket after lunch and take a nap.

I hated taking naps and promised myself that when I grew up, I'd never

take another nap in the afternoon.

As an adult,

I can't take a nap after lunch but would love to. Only on Sundays can

I get good ol' blankie out and lie down for a quick 30-minute nap right

after lunch. Wouldn't it be great to take a 30-minute nap every afternoon

like when we were kids? You guessed it, kid vs. adult kid wins again.

When I was

a kid, I loved playing with bugs. I thought all bugs were cool, and I

would spend the summer catching them in The Forest, looking for them under

rocks and grabbing many an elusive walking stick off the bamboo trees

down in the swamp. With help from my three brothers, we'd get bag worms

(caterpillars) and let them crawl on our arms their fuzzy bodies tickled

us as they crawled up and down. We'd catch lightning bugs and let them

go in the house. Having bugs in the house was cool, we thought.

Now as an adult

I find that we have termites eating our house. It will cost $900 to rid

ourselves of these little bugs that have eaten there way inside our house.

It will take $2,000 to repair the damage they have done. I hate bugs,

and I hate bugs inside the house. Kid and termites vs. adult kid and the

termites win.

Peter Pan eventually

got married to Ms. Wendy, and they moved far away from Never Never Land.

They moved to another fairy tale land where everyone lives in a big house,

has two cars and rides around on golf carts. Peter and Wendy had two children.

Five years later, the house they built together was foreclosed on. A year

later, Wendy left Peter to date Captain Hook. Eventually Peter and Wendy

divorced. Six months later Tinker Bell found him a broken man.

Three years

passed before Tinker Bell and Peter Pan got married. After the wedding,

Tink and Peter flew off to Never Never Land and lived happily ever after.

You remember Never Never Land the mythical place where you never grow

up, and no divorce lawyer can follow.

So you see,

Peter Pan was right it's a lot more fun never to grow up!

[Rick Ryckeley

is employed by the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

He can be reached at [email protected].]