Feeling Like a Kid Again

For the past week I have found myself mired in thoughts of childhood. Not my own youth, but those of my own two kids, as well as many of the students who are currently in my classroom each day. I know this distracted musing is the direct result of the tragic death of a former student last week in a house fire – me mentally shaking my head at how swiftly a life that has barely blossomed can be suddenly, brutally stamped out before it had a fair chance to truly flower and grow.

And for most of this past week I haven’t had a clear idea of what I wanted to write next. The occasional cruel randomness of life has a way of taking the humor out of day-to-day situations, at least for a while. Finally, I asked myself why I write at all. Like any voluntary endeavor, we do things with the hope/belief that the process or result will bring us slivers of happiness, satisfaction, maybe even pride.

Much of what adults do on a regular basis is “important”, “significant”, even – from time to time – “crucial”. Those quotations marks – if you couldn’t tell – were my sarcastic attempt to suggest that we all too often take ourselves far too seriously. Adulthood is mostly goal-orientation, right? Most things grown-ups do has a purpose - professional development, home improvement, personal fullfillment - a bit exhausting at times. Do you recall those things we did as kids for no other reason than to provide momentary joy? Like you perhaps, I can remember only if I reach back far enough, past the sheer weight of adulthood.

And if you are like me, when you do recollect happy snapshots from childhood, you might notice that the corners of your mouth twitched upward. And whether we know it or not, I believe we bring many of those moments from childhood through time with us to the present. These joys might not have that same innocent quality they once did, but each of us in our own way makes a choice to maintain a necessary link to our younger self.

The pleasures that make me feel like a kid again include:

1.     Cereal – sounds pretty mundane I know, but pouring Froot Loops (sans milk) into a bowl temporarily erases the concerns of the day.

2.     Baseball Cards – I haven’t collected cards in years, but I can see the ballplayers clearly and – crazy, yes – can still smell that bubble gum.

3.     Riding a Bike – I grew up on a bike the way pioneers grew up on horses. My bike was an extension of my body – and the old adage is absolutely true, “just like riding a bike . . .”

4.     Tootsie Pops – I can’t think of a simpler pleasure, and I still get a small thrill when the wrapper has a Lucky Indian Star on it.

5.     Bonfires – hot dogs, s’mores . . . do I need to go on?

6.     Dairy Queen – my family always stopped at DQ after a weekend at our family cabin in Orr, Minnesota. And though the cabin was sold before I was 10, my menu choices still lean towards the malts and shakes, like they did way back when.

As adults, we sometimes indulge in the wrong things, at the wrong times and in the wrong amounts. It’s a scant few of these indulgences that can so easily transport us back to childhood the way the “little” things can. And it's the little things, I believe, that can still provide us the most happiness. If it worked for us when we were kids, why can't they still work today? Perhaps “Less is More” after all.

What do you do that takes you back in time?