29th A-Z Blogger Challenge: Y

Youth in Revolt

I think I’m doing it backwards. The older I get the more irresponsible I want to be. Don’t get me wrong I’m not totally irresponsible, I hold down a job, I pay all my bills on time, I treat people with kindness and hold the hearts that I have very carefully.  (Ok if I was irresponsible then that last statement would sound very creepy but I’m not so take it in the spirit that it’s meant.) So on a very basic level I am a responsible person. So why is it that I want to revolt and do stupid shite on a regular basis? What is it about getting older that makes you think about doing very childish things? Sometimes the silliest of things have brought a smile to my face. Does this happen to everyone? When I think of getting older and being silly I always think of the poem “Warning” by Jenny Joesph:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people’s gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

I fear this may be me!