Never too old
There was a short time when I was about 11 that I started feeling a tinge ashamed to watch the show and my the way my heart palpatated each time I saw a Muppet plastered on a lunchbox or a pair of tube socks. I remember buying Sesame Magazines until I was about that age and getting a strange look from the clerk behind the counter and feeling embarrased. That's about the time I stopped buying them, but I didn't stop watching Sesame....although I wouldn't let anyone see me watching it.
The funny thing is that no one in my family teased me about it. No one told me to stop, but I felt like it wasn't "right" even though it felt so right deep down. I remember going into my bedroom and flipping on the radio. The song "Benny and the Jets" was playing on the radio. I remember picking up a Sesame Magazine with a picture of Big Bird on the front and, while I was looking at this picture, tears welled up in my eyes and as Elton cried out, "Benny! Benny!", I just started bawling. It felt like I was being made to let go. I felt like I was saying goodbye..... not only to Sesame Street, but to my childhood. It almost felt like I was grieving a death.
But, fortunately my surrendering didn't last. Like a friend and fellow Sesame nut once said, "You can't run away from Sesame. It's a part of you."
Not too much later on in my teenage life, I completely embraced Sesame again with a passion and proudly let everyone know how much I loved it....even if they didn't want to hear about it. I even bought a few copies of the Sesame Mag when I was in High School and shared it with a few friends.
I realized an important lesson at that point. No one has the right to tell me to stop doing something that might not fit within their definition of the norm, especially if it's something that doesn't harm me (or anyone) and gives me a lot of joy. You know, to this day, I cannot stand listening to the song "Benny and the Jets". The association tears me up inside. But I proudly admit that my heart still madly palpatates each time I see a Muppet face smeared across a tube sock, lunch box, or whatever it's smeared across.....
Let the smearing continue!