I can't imagine being a child today. I can't imagine being 8 and having a cell phone, or being thirteen and feeling pressured to be thin and beautiful. I can't imagine being in high school and feeling afraid to enter the building, or dealing with violent threats and bullying online.
I think back to when my dad would get home, my mom would make dinner, and I would be doing my homework at the kitchen table. We would all eat and respectively go our separate ways doing our chores, or getting ready for the next day. We would all watch shows together and laugh. I remember in the summers we would go on boat rides or go out for ice cream. We would stay out later and we could always hang out longer at church on Wednesday nights. I remember in the fall and winter we would make a fire, and like clockwork the power would go out every year forcing us to all sleep in the living room. I remember during weekends my dad would yell at the TV during a football game, or dance like an idiot if they won. I remember being able to crawl into my parent's bed when I was scared, sad, or worried. I remember having my boyfriend put his arm around me for the first time, and feeling like I was going to pass out from the nervousness. I remember my sister and I fighting like cats and dogs for weeks, and then get along for what seemed like an hour. All to have it come crashing down when she would get a stain on my new shirt.
I remember the smells, sounds, and the smallness of our house growing up. It almost felt like we were all in the same room most times. We could hear everything including my hair brush singing in my bedroom every night for four hours (I was seriously talented with that hair brush).
All of these memories hit me all at once it seems like. They don't tell you growing up, or at least you don't listen, that when you finally enter adulthood, you're going to wish like crazy you were still just a stupid kid. Boy, do I ever wish that sometimes. It seems like some memories just come out of nowhere. You literally won't remember something for 10 years and then all of the sudden it comes back. You wonder where it even went. Do you ever feel this way? Do these times become simpler in retrospect? I think its just a matter of growing up and becoming wiser. Although, hello, I did not have to pay bills or anything, so that may have something to do with it.
Oh to be young again.
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