Actually, I’m perfectly content with where I am in my life – less insecurities, less concerned about what people think of me and simply happy to be a healthy person with great friends and family. Except that every now and then, a child or a young adult says or does something that makes me wish to be a kid again and experience life from their eyes.
Take my niece for example. At Christmas she put out her milk and cookies for Santa. The next day, my brother was drinking his tea in the living room when my niece rushed from her bedroom to the Christmas tree. Not only was she excited that Santa had enjoyed her milk and cookies but she found a present and a note which she showed to my brother – if you’ll be a good girl in 2008, next year you’ll get even a bigger present.
Thrilled, she asked my brother, “When Santa comes down from the chimney, won’t his clothes get dirty?
My brother said, “yes, but he washes them.”
“Where does he wash them?” she asked.
“Why in our washing machine. He then throws them in the dryer and waits for his clothes as he eats the cookies you left him.”
She smiled and began opening her present.
Then there’s the story of my teenage cousin who emailed me on his Blackberry from the airport on his way to New Orleans, and when I responded from my iPhone (I was one of the first iPhone owners), he wrote – “OMG, you got an iPhone. I’m so jealous. Do you love it or do you love it?” By the way, for those of you who are from a different generation, OMG means oh my god! Now, mind you, I bought an iPhone because my ancient phone fell and broke, and I decided it was time for me to keep up with technology, to keep my files organized, and to stop my emails from piling up on my desk top; that’s all. But in my cousin’s eyes, I was suddenly cool and had joined his generation as he put it. We texted back and forth, he being a teenager that he is, and me pretending to be the teenager that I’m not. Finally he had to board his plane with his parents and we said goodbye.
And so, yes I’m happy to be where I am but sometimes, I love seeing the world through the eyes of a younger person.
