Journal Challenge Day 8: What Do You Miss About Childhood?
When you're a child every little thing seems like the end of the world, some kid stealing your crayons, or forgetting your favorite stuffed animal on a sleepover. You don't understand how insignificant these little bumps are because these are your mountains. Kids don't have bills or debts, they don't have cars or houses, and they don't have to worry about money or putting food on the table. It's so easy to be a kid unless you're a kid.
That's probably the thing I miss the most is the weight of your world wasn't really your responsibility. My childhood was pretty great, it definitely has it's fair share of hiccups and heartaches but my mom did a good job of shielding us from the horrors of the world. She allowed us to be kids even though I feel like we grew up faster than most.
I'm glad I grew up when I did, before technology really boomed. We were always outside, it didn't matter what season or temperature. We would make snow angles or dig to China in the sand where the swings were. We grew up in a dinky fricken town, shout out to Fort Nelson with your one street light, and high teenage pregnancy rate. There are only so many things to do in a small town I guess. We had a movie theatre, with just one screen, and if we had a dance recital going on that meant no movies. Pretty much everyone danced, well the girls anyway. I haven't the slightest clue what the boys did. The town was so small that we couldn't really have much for sports teams and there wasn't really any other towns close by to compete against. There was a swimming pool, and a rec-center with an ice rink which I thought was ironic. Why build an ice rink in a town that's frozen 80% of the time...
As dinky as the town was though, I miss the vibes of it. The knowing everyone everywhere, getting free shit from the dollar store because your sister's boyfriend's mom owned it. I don't understand how people can hate small towns. You don't get the at-home feeling from a condo in the city, or at least I don't. It felt like home when we were all gathered around a fire, next to the giant hill that we've been sledding down all day. We had our hot chocolate, I'm sure the adults had something a little stronger. It wasn't just your immediate family there either, it was your neighbors, and your coworkers, your classmates. There are not many memories in my head that beat those days.
Another thing I miss from my childhood is probably being with my sister all the time, we did everything together. My mom bought us matching outfits a lot, it was a whole scene. We fought though, oh my god, did we fight. Always over some stupid shit too like nothing of importance. Paige ate the last french fry or I took the last funky straw so she couldn't have it. That didn't really change when we entered our teen years either, we still fought but basically just over stealing each others things, primarily clothing. When we weren't fighting, we did typical sister things like play Barbies and Bratz we would sing karaoke and dance around the house. Of course, we pretended the floor was lava and tore up the living room trying to avoid it. I don't see her as often as I want to now that we're all grown up, and I miss that.
I miss the days when I believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy left me big bucks. I miss being small enough the curl up in my momma's arms. I miss the days where I thought monsters looked like they do in "Monster's Inc." instead of now when you can't pick them out from a crowd. I miss being so carefree and confident. I was way more confident as a child, I used to just wave at random people and make friends so easily. My first best friend I met on the first day of kindergarten. My teacher, Mrs. Emmokamp told us to talk to the person sitting beside us. Danielle was next to me then and I don't remember a time after that when she wasn't. Kids don't worry about being judged and they aren't scared of what-ifs, they have this here and now, grab life by the balls mentality. I don't really know when we lose that. I know lost mine, maybe some people don't.
The things I miss most about being a kid are more feelings I guess than memories or objects. It's the carefree lifestyle of a child that I would give anything to have back. Everyone tells us not to grow up, like we really have much of a say, but I think what they really mean is take advantage of those late-night Slurpee runs and giant snowmen. Take your time to enjoy the little things and stress over that stuffed animal, let those be your mountains before your forced to discover volcanoes.
Thanks for reading guys.
-Courtney :)
That's probably the thing I miss the most is the weight of your world wasn't really your responsibility. My childhood was pretty great, it definitely has it's fair share of hiccups and heartaches but my mom did a good job of shielding us from the horrors of the world. She allowed us to be kids even though I feel like we grew up faster than most.
I'm glad I grew up when I did, before technology really boomed. We were always outside, it didn't matter what season or temperature. We would make snow angles or dig to China in the sand where the swings were. We grew up in a dinky fricken town, shout out to Fort Nelson with your one street light, and high teenage pregnancy rate. There are only so many things to do in a small town I guess. We had a movie theatre, with just one screen, and if we had a dance recital going on that meant no movies. Pretty much everyone danced, well the girls anyway. I haven't the slightest clue what the boys did. The town was so small that we couldn't really have much for sports teams and there wasn't really any other towns close by to compete against. There was a swimming pool, and a rec-center with an ice rink which I thought was ironic. Why build an ice rink in a town that's frozen 80% of the time...
As dinky as the town was though, I miss the vibes of it. The knowing everyone everywhere, getting free shit from the dollar store because your sister's boyfriend's mom owned it. I don't understand how people can hate small towns. You don't get the at-home feeling from a condo in the city, or at least I don't. It felt like home when we were all gathered around a fire, next to the giant hill that we've been sledding down all day. We had our hot chocolate, I'm sure the adults had something a little stronger. It wasn't just your immediate family there either, it was your neighbors, and your coworkers, your classmates. There are not many memories in my head that beat those days.
Another thing I miss from my childhood is probably being with my sister all the time, we did everything together. My mom bought us matching outfits a lot, it was a whole scene. We fought though, oh my god, did we fight. Always over some stupid shit too like nothing of importance. Paige ate the last french fry or I took the last funky straw so she couldn't have it. That didn't really change when we entered our teen years either, we still fought but basically just over stealing each others things, primarily clothing. When we weren't fighting, we did typical sister things like play Barbies and Bratz we would sing karaoke and dance around the house. Of course, we pretended the floor was lava and tore up the living room trying to avoid it. I don't see her as often as I want to now that we're all grown up, and I miss that.
I miss the days when I believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy left me big bucks. I miss being small enough the curl up in my momma's arms. I miss the days where I thought monsters looked like they do in "Monster's Inc." instead of now when you can't pick them out from a crowd. I miss being so carefree and confident. I was way more confident as a child, I used to just wave at random people and make friends so easily. My first best friend I met on the first day of kindergarten. My teacher, Mrs. Emmokamp told us to talk to the person sitting beside us. Danielle was next to me then and I don't remember a time after that when she wasn't. Kids don't worry about being judged and they aren't scared of what-ifs, they have this here and now, grab life by the balls mentality. I don't really know when we lose that. I know lost mine, maybe some people don't.
The things I miss most about being a kid are more feelings I guess than memories or objects. It's the carefree lifestyle of a child that I would give anything to have back. Everyone tells us not to grow up, like we really have much of a say, but I think what they really mean is take advantage of those late-night Slurpee runs and giant snowmen. Take your time to enjoy the little things and stress over that stuffed animal, let those be your mountains before your forced to discover volcanoes.
Thanks for reading guys.
-Courtney :)
