I miss my childhood when
…I smell crayons. The waxy aroma sends me straight back to elementary school. The back to school shopping for new clothes, shoes, and school supplies. The excitement of putting notebooks, pencils, glue sticks, and pretty folders into my brand new backpack. Knowing I’d see all my friends again. Not knowing it wouldn’t last–that school could be a harsh and unfair place.
…I see snow. Remembering the joy of snow days and having the biggest sledding hill in the neighborhood–until my mom leveled it off during a remodel. Devastation. My Aunt Gwen smearing chapstick all over my face to ward off windburn. Avoiding her house at all costs whenever it snowed, I hated it so bad. An act of love, misunderstood.
…I feel the freezing cold water of a swimming pool as I slowly lower myself in. Knowing the best way into the icy water is doing a cannonball as I did as a child, not a thought for the painful jolt because it only lasted a second. Not a thought for how I looked in a bathing suit. It was about fun. Not appearances.
…I taste hot tea. The days my mom would host a tea party for me and the girls in the neighborhood. Getting to use my very own china she had begun collecting for me. Feeling very grown up and sophisticated until the day it became embarrassing and babyish.
…I hear “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. At a slumber party, my friends and I danced to the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. Not that we knew how to dance. We just moved to the music and laughed so hard until we fell to the floor in exhaustion. I haven’t had a night of dancing since. Now it matters that I don’t know how to dance. Even if it didn’t matter, I wouldn’t last 5 minutes without falling to the floor in exhaustion. And in agony from severe back pain.
…the refrigerator breaks, the pipes get clogged, money is tight, the kids get sick or hurt, I get overwhelmed, sad, or homesick. Sometimes, I want to be a kid again. Carefree and happy. When I think about childhood, I don’t remember the hard times. I remember pure, unadulterated, sepia-colored bliss. Of course, it wasn’t always like that, but my parents made sure it seemed that way.
And now it’s my job to do it for my own children.
So when they’re grown with children, hardships, and responsibilities of their own, they can say to themselves, “I miss my childhood when….”
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This post was written for the Write On Edge RemembeRED writing prompt.
The prompt went like this:
This week’s prompt is to use this image for your inspiration and begin your post with those words…”I miss my childhood…”
Love it! I hope that someday my children will look back on their childhood and remember only the good things. And I love the smell of crayons!!! ;D
It really is one of the great smells, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by!
Then you learned lifes lesson ~ It is what you make it ~ learning how to make something special out of something so simple. Those are the best memories.
Its funny ,… I have never heard you talk about the Bahamas
Hmm, I talk about it sometimes. Maybe that will make a good winter post.
Crayond bring me back to my childhood, too.
This is such a great post. I’m all tearing up here in a roomful of stagehands.
Thanks, though I swear I don’t want to make people cry!
Sepia-colored bliss. =) What a profound tidbit, relating right back to the colors [of crayons.] Great post, I suddenly want to make a tire swing…
Yep, right back to the crayons. If only I realized that when I wrote that. I love a good tire swing.
That was an awesome post. I miss my childhood when it’s a sunny spring day. I would lay on my bed and look out the window imagining all the fun summer would bring. Summer seemed so long then. The days stretched endlessly one into another.
Sometimes it’s fun to remember. You’re right, now’s our chance to make those memories for our kids.
~FringeGirl
Summer did seem to last forever–until September. Then it seemed it had only just begun.
I absolutely adore the way that you wove this into lessons and wishes for your children.
The sepia-colored bliss line is perfection!
Gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever even come close to perfection. Thanks so much for the compliment!
So glad to see that there were good memories of the start of school for you too! I felt a bit like a nerd writing that in my “childhood” essay, but I really did LOVE the excitement of a new school year!!!
Nerds unite! I loved school when I was little. That’s where all my friends were, I had good teachers, and I actually didn’t mind learning, either.
Beautiful post. It is fun to remember. Everything so fresh and new. It is so fun to see the world through virgin eyes. I see my g-baby look at everything with such wonder. It is a BEAUTIFUL thing.
Yes, it is. My almost 2yo is an absolute delight in that regard. She’s so proud of herself when she figures out new things and has to show us over and over again. So sweet.
It really is so very sweet!
I loved it with my critters, but it is absolutely breathtaking with my grandbaby.
This was a moving read… I was there for all of your memories… you took me back down roads I’d forgotten I traversed. The ending with wanting to do the same for your children was also wonderful, your kids are so lucky to have you! Thanks for sharing such sweet memories with us
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks.
This is really lovely.
I miss my childhood when I remember horse riding, tracking the cat to find out where the kittens had been born, my pet lambs and giving mouth-to-nose resuscitation to a new-born calf.
Ah, that sounds like a wonderful childhood! I’m a little jealous. I grew up in the suburbs.
I was so excited when I started taking college courses again. I went to Target, and bought school supplies. Probably stuff I will not need, but it was fun. I even bought a backpack, even though I my courses are online.
Got a little carried away, huh?
Of course, you can use the backpack to keep all your school stuff in. Or as a purse. I know I could totally carry a backpack as a purse, considering all the stuff one needs when taking 5 children ANYWHERE. Snacks, a diaper, wet wipes, band-aids, pens and pencils, tylenol, stain removal pen, …the list goes on.
I, too, looked forward to the first day of school. I remember not being able to sleep the night before because I was so excited to see my friends again, to meet my teacher(s), and then being up 2 hours before I was supposed to be, being dressed ahead of time & then having to wait around to be able to walk to the bus stop. Don’t get wrong, I didn’t do that the rest of the school year . . . There was just something about that first day.
Thanks Erin for the wonderful post & for the memories that were stirred.
Oh, that sounds exactly like my first day of 6th grade. I was such a dork, I actually practiced the morning routine beforehand. And I was also ready 2 hours early. My, how times have changed.
LOL . . . I was like that all through my high school years too. I can’t explain it. And, to my surprise, Bryanna does the same thing! Bryan fusses at her about not going to bed & getting enough sleep & gets mad at me because I won’t “make her” go to bed. I just laugh at him & say “Hey, I was the same way. Chill out!”
Yea, times have changed . . . I would rather be up all night & sleep all day. I’m still trying to talk my boss into letting me work the “night shift” . . . for some reason he keeps telling me lawyers don’t have a “night shift” . . . go figure!!!
Doesn’t he know “The Law” is in effect at night, too?
Nice Post. If your kids are young enough, you can dance with them.
Well, a couple of them are young enough to not be embarrassed by me. Excellent idea!
“The Time of My Life” does me, too.
Never met anyone else who says that. And crayons. The nostalgic power of Crayola wax…