When was the last time you played? I mean really got silly and played. Ran down the street, arms in the air and giggled? Tossed a Frisbee and didn't CARE if you landed it right. Engaged in a rousing game of Pooh Sticks?

The other day my husband, Roy, and I were having a conversation about growing old. We were talking about the people in our lives who are older and how "old" they seem. Some of the people who are 20 years older than me are "youngsters" compared to their age-peers. Others who are just a few years older than I am, some even younger, seem MUCH older.

How does this happen? What ages us? I don't mean time. I know that. I know that as time marches on I get chronologically older. But getting older and aging are two different things.

I believe that we age faster when we forget to play. Play keeps us young. It doesn't have to be organized play. It just has to be something that lifts our spirits and gets us OUT there doing something new, taking a risk!

I know I have to grow older, but I don't want to age. I want to keep living. Paul Newman is 82 years old and still races race-cars! Now that, my friends, is playing! When I skydived I researched the guy I strapped myself to (Vlad) and found that he'd taken a 96 year old man on his first skydive! Now that, my friends, is playing!

But you don't have to race cars or jump out of a plane to play. Get yourself a Wii. Now don't you tell me, "But I don't have kids!" You get out there NOW and get a Wii (they just got a bunch in at Target). Oh you'll play! Challenge your honey or your friend to a game of Wii Tennis and then laugh as you prance all over the livingroom pretending to hit a fake ball! If a video console is out of your budget, go down to the local park and find a stream and play Pooh Sticks. (This was, incidentally, a favorite pastime of Roy's and mine when we were in college.

On a really stressful day we'd take time out to go to the park and play Pooh Sticks. He usually won. He has some sort of magic Stickitude or something.) Go out on your next run and "tree five" the trees as you run by, or just throw your arms up in the air and grin a big grin and run like a kid. If you run across a hopscotch drawn on the ground, you MUST hop AND scotch! Oh sure, the neighbors will think you've lost it...but hey, who cares? Making the neighbor purse her lips and deepen her frown lines is part of the PLAY!

Go bowling, but don't go to win! Go to a batting cage and guffaw as the balls sail past your head. Play miniature golf! Take a walk and skip a little down the sidewalk. Race the neighbor dog along the fence-line. Get down on your hands and knees and wrestle with your kids or your dog!