“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” —Tom Robbins

So I ask this geezer, rocking beside me on the porch, “Hey Gramps, how do you want to feel when you grow up?” The geezer laughs so hard he rolls off his rocker.

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm

—Aldous Huxley

The geezer’s girlfriend, who is painting pinto spots on her rocker, is laughing so hard she’s splattering the whole porch. “What’s so funny?” I ask her.

When you’re young, you’re always wondering when you’re actually going to feel like a grownup. And I think you probably fear it, in a sense, too. There’s a danger to feeling like an adult… like this whimsical kid in you is going to die or something. And then all of a sudden, one day you kind of feel like an adult and it’s really nice

—Drew Barrymore

“You see, my dear,” goes the girlfriend, dipping a brush in a paint can, “this geezer is a veteran of countless years, while you,” she says, sloshing me upside the head with a sopping brush, “you are still wet behind the ears.”

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up

—Pablo Picasso

Well, paint me precocious! Anyway, when the laughter subsides, we tie our rocking horses to the porch rail at the daycare. Then we do the hokey-pokey and turn ourselves around. That’s what it’s all about.

Adults are obsolete children

—Dr. Seuss