At 27, after serving in World War II, I dreamed of owning a piece of land. So I moved from central Illinois to Shelbina, Missouri, and bought 236 acres for $6,000. The plot of land was situated on a dirt road and was half farmland and half trees, with an old house that had no running water or electricity. Obviously, it was not what you’d call prime real estate. But it was mine.

I was alone for the first time in my life, and I found it liberating. My days were filled from dawn until dusk with plowing and planting corn. Dinnertime came and went, and I barely remembered to eat.

I wouldn’t say I was a great success at farming in Missouri. However, when I went to the store to buy some plowshares, I met a nice woman named Claudette working behind the counter. I also ran into her at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Shelbina each week. I found out later that her manager kept asking her about “that tall boy (and eligible bachelor) from Illinois living out in the country in an old house with no water, no electricity and no housekeeper.”

Claudette and her sister soon visited my farm and put up some curtains. To show my appreciation, I took Claudette out for a ride in my 2½-ton Studebaker truck. We married in 1954 and have now been together for more than 62 years!

I later sold the Missouri farm for a $3,500 profit and bought 40 acres in Illinois. For many reasons, buying the Missouri farm was a good idea. I will always cherish memories of owning the farm and meeting my beloved.

Ninety percent of Americans drive to work every day although working from home is on the rise. If you’re lacking for topics of conversation at a party, chatting about your commute is a pretty safe bet.

According to a recent study, driving for more than two hours each day can steadily decrease the IQ of middle aged drivers. The Sunday Times of London detailed the study, which looked into the lifestyle choices of over 500,000 Britons between the ages of 37 and 73.

When looking at the data of the 93,000 participants who drove more than two to three hours per day, the study found a noticeable dropoff in brainpower, measured by intelligence and memory tests. The study found similar results with participants who took part in several hours similarly sedentary (久坐的) activity, like television watching.

As it turns out, stimulating activity stimulates your brain, while non-stimulating activity, well, doesn’t stimulate your brain.

“Cognitive (认知的) decline is measurable over five years because it can happen fast in middle-aged and older people. This is associated with lifestyle factors such as smoking and bad diet — and now with time spent driving,” Kishran Bakrania, a medical epidemiologist at the University of Leicester told the Times.

Fortunately for most Americans, the average commute time was recorded at approximately 26.5 minutes according to the 2015 United States Census.

And if you think that the way to pump up your IQ is through brain games, think again. Just try and avoid those long hours on the road if possible, and if you happen to have free time on your commute, be sure to use it wisely.

It used to be a matter of fact when Peter Pan — a character from James Matthew Barrie’s 1911 book — said, “All children, except one, grow up.”

But this “fact” doesn’t seem to apply to today’s world any more.

According to the NPD Group, a US market research company, sales of toys to adults in the UK increased by more than 20 percent in 2016, three times the pace of the children’s toy market itself. These toys ranged from puzzles and Lego building sets to vehicle models and action figures. And more than half of the sales came from millennials — people born between the 1980s and 2000s.

“Adults of the 21st century are channeling their inner child, one toy at a time,” commented website Koreaboo. This is also why these adults are sometimes referred to as “kidults”.

According to Frederique Tutt, an analyst at NPD, the motivation of these grown­ups is to escape the stress of today’s fast­paced world. They are driven toward the more immediate pleasures brought by toys than those brought by, say, getting a promotion, which is far less easy to achieve.

“It reminds me of the playful side of life,” Rob Willner, a 25­year­old PhD student in the UK, told The Telegraph when talking about his love for Lego, which he said brings him both comfort and entertainment. Despite this, some social scientists see the trend as disturbing. To Frank Furendi, a professor at the University of Kent in the UK, the fact that so many adults are pursuing “the thrills of youth” is the evidence that “adulthood has got nothing attractive about it anymore”, he told The New York Times. “That’s actually quite sad. ”

But scientists are probably just worried too much. According to Canadian comic book artist Todd McFarlane, collecting toys could simply be a way for people to express their individuality. “It’s just pop culture stuff. It’s stuff that says, ‘I like a little of this and I like a little of that, ’” he told ABC News. “It’s no big deal.”

So now that over 100 years have passed since Peter Pan, perhaps it’s time to introduce a new “fact”, as stated in the tagline (标语) of the UK fashion brand KIDULT: “Growing old is mandatory (被迫的), but growing up is optional.”

If you don’t have a travel-friendly DVD player, or you want your vacation to be spent away from the screen — bring along these games and ideas for young kids.

Give the kids a map and a highlighter, and have them follow the route you take. If you want to get a little fancier than a sketch book and colouring pencils, then a laptop coloring desk is a great way for kids to keep occupied and make postcards to send to friends and family.

20 questions: You think of a person or object, and your opponent(s) asks you 20 yes-or-no questions to try to figure out who or what you’re thinking of.

The memory game: “I’m going to the World’s Fair and in my suitcase I packed…”     12    Beginning with A, the first letter of each new item must start with the next letter of the alphabet.

Back seat bingo: Before you leave, draw up a grid (格子) for each passenger filling each of the squares with a different sight to cross off.     13    .

Try to vary the snacks between healthy, filling choices and less healthy treats.     14    . Sweet snacks provide all important bargaining tools to prevent back seat fights and constant "Are we there yet?".

You could even try to involve the children in making the snacks beforehand, especially if you're baking. Being involved in the creation will make them even more interested in the snacks during the car journey.

Pack a selection of audiobooks to entertain the whole family through the journey. If you're on a long trip, opt for Harry Potter so you'll never run out of story.

Kids imitate the noises they hear in places such as home, street, farm, or zoo. After 20 minutes of that, you may want to try the quiet contest — whoever can be the quietest and the longest wins a prize.

If you're very lucky after this game, you could just have some sleeping children on your hands.