Dear Childhood,
First things first, I want you to know that its been fun. It was quite a ride and I don't regret a thing. The countless hours of running free and sleeping whenever i wanted were luxurious. Looking back, I regret how much I took you for granted. At the time it felt like we would be together forever and no one could break us apart.
But now it seems as if the distance between us is ever growing bigger. When I was 8 and realized that maybe I shouldn't wear my Elmo shirt to school or watching Disney Junior was too babyish, you took it lightly and never blamed me. "We can still be friends" you said. "Lets play again tomorrow". But at that time having Elmo as your friend wasn't the cool thing. No one asked to "play" we just "chilled". Maybe it's just a phase?
But as seventh grade came around and I wore a dress to school it became evident that maybe the days of skateboards and scraped knees were a thing of the past. Boys like girls who jump rope and dance. Cuts and bruises are so not attractive. I hope you'll understand.
Now don't get me wrong, I loved the endless free time and guiltless amount of sweets and cookies but I'm in high school now. It's time I move on. Saturday cartoons are now to be replaced with essays and books. Cookies and sweets? Maybe just one- there's a track meet tomorrow afternoon.
I know it will be hard for you and trust me, this is no easier on my part. I mean who couldn't miss the matching sweatsuits or piles of beaded jewelry you made with your best friend last weekend? But now the sweatsuits are to be replaced with expensive clothes from the latest trendy boutitque. Any beaded jewels have been turned to diamonds and gold. While having mom clean all my messes up was nice and blaming everything on my brother is tempting, I've come to realize I need to take a little bit more responsibility for my actions. I learned how to do laundry the other day and yes, it was actually me who broke the handle to the cupboard.
While I don't want this to be a full on goodbye, I think it's best if we leave it as a "see you later". Sure we can still be friends but maybe the fact that I still love a good episode of PB & J Otter is best kept a secret between us.
I absolutely love how you blame your brother for your messes. It's the same thing I would do to my sister. But letting go if your childhood is very hard to do. With some of the most exiting things you do when you are that young. But know matter what you should always have your inner kid.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with taking my childhood for granted! Up until I read this, I never really thought about a childhood being something that you'd "break up with". As I was reading this I kept stopping and realizing that I kind of felt the exact same way with my childhood. It's kind of weird looking back and realizing how different things have become. It made me laugh when I read the line about missing the matching sweatsuits. Also I just realized I stopped making beaded jewelry just two years ago... (hah..) It is so true that wearing simple sweatsuits has turned into seeing who has the latest and most expensive jeans. It's ridiculous thinking about it really. I really enjoyed reading your post, very good!
ReplyDeleteWow, it is almost scary how accurate this post is! I can definitely say that I took my childhood for granted. I always wanted to grow up and be a teenager so I could do more things that looked fun. I never really thought that I would miss those childhood days, but I do. I hate to admit it, but I miss the days when my mom used to match my outfits with my sisters. As we get older, we have to become more mature and that kinda takes the fun out of a lot of stuff. We have to get jobs, or (like you said) do our own laundry. It's not really everything we wished it to be, but we will always have those good memories of when we were young to look back at!
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