Thou shalt be as a little child

Number of Subarus on my drive home: 68

As I finished reading la dolce's blog entry about the ever present reluctance of adults to grow up, I sat pondering the ways in which I attempt to remain like a child. I was surprised to discover, in those first few minutes of reflection, that I could come up with no concrete examples. I thought to myself, "hmmm...could it have happened? Have I become a grown up?" Those thoughts danced around in my head for less than 18 hours (7 of which were spent sleeping) until I headed off to play a game of kickball with a bunch of hipsters that live on the East Side.

I realize that kickball is epxeriencing a major revival these days among 20/30 somethings...especially the young professionals in urban cities. Which only proves la dolce's point that we refuse to grow up! So much so that we form teams and leagues and go to Nationals playing sports that were all the rage in 5th grade.

Luckily, the hipsters I was playing with were not part of any organized league or team nor did they have any aspirations for Nationals. If they did, I would have highly discouraged said aspirations in light of the fact that the Kickball scene is hard-core...especially in Washington DC. And when I say hard-core, I mean hard-core. What began as an excuse to get together and drink beer and yell at each other while acting like children has turned into a serious and skilled competition involving drinking beer while yelling at each other and acting like children (emphasis on drinking beer). Here is an excerpt from the DCKickball website explaining "Why DCKickball?"

Remember…
Playing around at the park when you were a kid?
Playing flash light tag?
Playing kickball during recess?

When you got to college…
Playing quarters?
Playing flip cup?
Playing beer pong?

Now imagine those two worlds, separated by time, coming together….what would you have?
The answer: DCKickball

They are obviously hard-core not only about the game of kickball, but also about drinking beer...a dichotomy that perfectly epitomizes the subject of la dolce's question: Why are we Americans so eager yet so reluctant to grow up?

I only bring up the DC teams because, as my friend Alan sadly realized, any team that is part of an organized league that happens to make it to Nationals will get their trashed kicked by these hard-core DCKickballers. It's best to just stay out of their path. The East Side hipsters I played with this weekend were less serious about the game of kickball, as well as drinking beer, though both were still present. They were so much less serious about the game that, instead of wearing the usual kickball attire (as pictured below), they were dressed like the hipsters that they are (also pictured below). A fact that led to some serious FOLLACI come true for me.

vs.