simpler times
when i was 6, in the first grade of elementary school, they taught us to read. the illustrated practice reader was a story about a little boy and girl who walked to a five-and-dime store to look at something, but i don't remember what or why. i only remember that the colors were soft and clean, and they were happy kids.
when i was 7, in the second grade, for some reason i remembered that practice reader, and i wanted to find it to read it again. i don't remember why, but i had a compulsion, a need to go back to what was already a simpler time. i looked in every room of the small house we lived in, looked in every drawer and on every shelf, but i couldn't find it.
i went back to see that old house a few weeks ago, and i remembered that long ago time. i remembered playing hide and seek, running water on the sides of the old swamp cooler, then sitting right in front of it humming. i remembered finding a litter of kittens in the abandoned chicken coop in the back yard, watching them play with each other in a laundry basket. and i remembered standing outside the school on a cold winter morning, ears and fingers and toes stinging, waiting for the bell to ring so we could go inside, lunches that only cost a quarter, cold milk in a glass. i remembered the little girl i had a crush on, and trying to impress her. i remember going to the movie theater and praying that the cartoon would be a Road Runner cartoon, amazed when it was, and then later running home to tell my sister that James Stewart was in the old west, because i was too young to understand that movies aren't real. i remembered the Boll Weevil, and Tubby's Cafe, and Ratliff's grocery where we would take our occassional allowance and buy an ice cold Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle, then all the way home savor it and ponder the significance of 10, 2 and 4.
but everything now is falling apart. even though those were not the good old days, they were at least simpler. if God would only let me go back, i could handle it now. i could handle yesterday so much better than today.
when i was 7, in the second grade, for some reason i remembered that practice reader, and i wanted to find it to read it again. i don't remember why, but i had a compulsion, a need to go back to what was already a simpler time. i looked in every room of the small house we lived in, looked in every drawer and on every shelf, but i couldn't find it.
i went back to see that old house a few weeks ago, and i remembered that long ago time. i remembered playing hide and seek, running water on the sides of the old swamp cooler, then sitting right in front of it humming. i remembered finding a litter of kittens in the abandoned chicken coop in the back yard, watching them play with each other in a laundry basket. and i remembered standing outside the school on a cold winter morning, ears and fingers and toes stinging, waiting for the bell to ring so we could go inside, lunches that only cost a quarter, cold milk in a glass. i remembered the little girl i had a crush on, and trying to impress her. i remember going to the movie theater and praying that the cartoon would be a Road Runner cartoon, amazed when it was, and then later running home to tell my sister that James Stewart was in the old west, because i was too young to understand that movies aren't real. i remembered the Boll Weevil, and Tubby's Cafe, and Ratliff's grocery where we would take our occassional allowance and buy an ice cold Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle, then all the way home savor it and ponder the significance of 10, 2 and 4.
but everything now is falling apart. even though those were not the good old days, they were at least simpler. if God would only let me go back, i could handle it now. i could handle yesterday so much better than today.
posted by fool2cr at 6/27/2006 07:29:00 AM
4 Comments:
wat fun times tt sound like. gg back to d childhood is wat i always wanted to do..
if only we can rewind time, n relocate ourselves.. i'd like to be childhood frens with u juz for a feel.. either me in d states, or u in singapore.. tt'll be an adventure!
my daughter says tt she n i "share a brain" coz we think so much alike. she's d only one who gets my jokes, my references, n sometimes i'll make some random remark n she'll say "i was just thinking the same thing!" of cos sometimes i hv to remind her, if she's not gonna actu use d brain, to let me hv it back for awhile.
but i swear tt you n i share a heart, coz we so often feel d same things. when u talk abt if we cld be childhood frens, it sounds better to me than ath i've heard in a long, long time. count me in for tt adventure, pahlawan. i'm ready to go.
if only, huh.. btw, i'm not coming online cos i'm gonna go get some rest. really tired. hee...
i got ur msg aft d mtg was over.. it was great to hear u so happy! i'm glad ur team won. u really cheered me up..made me smile to hear u tt way...hell, i'm smiling right now just thinking abt it. :D
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