Games

There is a moment in every child’s life when you’re outside playing, your mother will call you in for dinner, and that is it. That was your last play, your last childhood game. Such a significant event gone unnoticed. We can’t remember when our last play was.

I came across this concept in a play called Dice House, where a psychiatrist expresses the notion that people are constricted by the rules and regulations of modern life to the extent that the only way they can overcome this and be truly free is to leave all our decision making to a pair of dice. Obviously this strategy is flawed and the play was extremely silly (and brilliant) but it got me thinking about that last childhood game.

I think that there is a lot more than one of these moments that fall into the category of growing up. Alongside the last childhood play, I’ve experienced the last use of plastic cutlery (other than camping,) the last watch of Pingu and the last time I got told off for having messy hair or a skirt shorter than my kneecaps. Then there are the firsts. The first time I wore a floor length dress. The first time I went on a plane alone. The first time I won a game of chess against my Dad. What I’m really going for with this post is finding those really significant moments in one’s life that goes completely unnoticed until you realize you can’t remember when it happened. Not the clichés like first kisses, first steps and first jobs. Pinnacle yet forgotten.

And there are so many more to come. I’ve just finished my first year of university and I haven’t changed at all, but I have grown up a bit. So many things in life that seemed so important have lost priority. Wearing full make up every day. Getting trashed. Watching television shows religiously. Now even I could have told you that then, but I don’t know how to really tell you about this new state of mind. Put it this way, I’ve gone from not knowing or really caring how the rest of my life turns out, to having ‘the super unrealistic life dream plan’ of multi millions and a career resembling something out of Ugly Betty, to having a strategic plan for the next 4-5 years and thinking realistically about my career and future.

I’ve made the decision that it is ridiculous in these times to assume that your life is going to fall magically into place. We can’t let things happen by chance – how many stories are there of people getting exactly what they want and need by rolling a pair of die? In this day and age, us budding kiddies need plans. Friends. Tactics. Maybe it’s a sad notion being so willing to leave childhood games, but it seems there are a whole load of new ones I need to learn the rules for in order to be a successful and satisfied adult.