Saturday, September 11, 2010

questions from a child at cuppies and joe

"Am I a big kid?"

Oh, how we all wanted to be big. I played office, teacher, doctor, and college girl with a boyfriend. I couldn't wait to be big enough to do all of those things. I would teach multiplication to a crowd of dolls and mark up all their worksheets in red pen with coffee cup in hand. (All teachers seemed to have a coffee cup.) I always imagined 23 as being the perfect age. While I am a much older and wiser 24, I will say that 23 was a very fun year, but probably not exactly how I would have imagined it as a child.

It's weird how we wish things away in life. I've tried to stop doing that. There are always going to be things to look forward to, which is great, but it's the if I could just get to high school, if I could just get my license, if I could just have a boyfriend, if I could just go to college, if I could just have my own job, if I could just live on my own, if I could just get married ... and the list goes on. I try not to get too anxious and focused on all of the 'if I could just's, although it seems right now I'm doing a lot of that. It's a hard funk to get out of.

"Dad, can I do whatever I want when I grow up?"

While there are limits to this question, like, no, you cannot run around naked in the streets killing people, the answer is yes. You can do whatever you want. To a child, the possibilities are endless. Then, we get old ... and realistic ... and crotchety ... and concerned with time ... and focused on money. Of course, the kid's question might have been more in the direction of, "Can I eat candy all the time and play outside all day and never go to school?" But you know, that answer could be yes as well. To each his own.

I listened to this little boy ask these questions and my first thought was, "Well, isn't he cute!" But, as I sat there and thought about it, I remembered how fun it was to think like a kid. The options were endless and what we need to remember is that they still are endless.

Moral of the Story: We are big kids now and we can do whatever we want. :)

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