A Gem From the Past......
I was looking at a friend's site, and found a link to my old blog account. There were only two posts on there--one a complete throwaway. The other one, however, still strikes a chord with me. So, as a tribute to my 2005 self, and so it doesn't get lost forever: here's that post.
Monday, January 03, 2005 (originally):
The Nature Of Imagination or, alternatively, "I Want My Childhood Back!"
I
hate being a grown up, but I haven't truly been a kid since my 10th birthday. I do remember it, though. All the poetry of being a kid is lost on my grown-up self, and I don't think I'm alone in this. It's something that happens to everyone, I think. Something that happens when you're young and thinking about all the things you're going to do when you "grow up." You never realize how much fun stuff you're going to miss out on when you're older. Things that I used to enjoy all those years ago are now just inconveniences. Like snow. I used to love getting the day off from school when it would snow and then spending the entire day outside--sledding, making snowmen, snowball fights with my Dad, all of that. When you're 7, what could possibly be better than that? Now, snow's just something that gets my car stuck in the parking lot, makes it difficult or impossible to get to work, and is a terror to drive in. And trains? Remember when a train was almost a magical thing? I remember cheering when we'd get stopped by a train, trying to guess how many cars there would be, and then gleefully counting the cars out loud. It's just not like that anymore--trains are just things that get between me and where I needed to be 10 minutes ago. I hate that. I want those feelings back. I want to live with a kid's sense of wonder and fun and joy in the world. I don't know if it's possible, but I want it to be. And doesn't that count for something?
