#32: Avoid Avoiding Babies

I know you’re not a monster; It’s just that you’re sooooooo over the baby thing. You’ve already put in your time jollying the infant who started crying in the middle of the meal, bouncing the toddler up and down the aisle of the plane, being pinned beneath the child who refused to sit anywhere but your lap. And you’re ready for some freedom.

But avoiding babies is like admitting you hate kittens, or sunshine. It makes you seem mean, cranky — dare I say Bush-like?

#9: Don’t Plan

When old people want to go on vacation to, say, Italy next summer, what do they do? They buy tickets. Book a hotel. Research restaurants and make reservations. They plan, in other words, just like they plan dinner parties for three weeks from Saturday, and buy theatre tickets for Thanksgiving, and make a mammogram appointment for April ’09.

If you want not to act old, you’ve got to be a little looser than that. A lot looser. Decide what you’re going to do on the spur of the moment, depending on how you feel. Make travel arrangements on the fly. Throw out your calendars and datebooks. Be here now.