When I was a kid I thought…
When I was a kid I thought that the horses just off the west interchange in Ellensburg were wild and I dreamt that when I was a grown-up I would capture and tame them for my own farm.
When I was a kid I thought that “The Coast” was such an amazingly awesome – and scary – place where all of the good things happened.*
When I was a kid and I saw interracial couples (is it OK to use that term?) with children, I would dream that, one day, we would all be the same ethnic race and we would all have lovely tanned skin all year long because of it.**
When I was a kid and we got to the place in Sunday Mass where we’d all shake hands, I thought we were saying “Pleased to meet you” which didn’t make sense, because in our small town everyone knew each other already.***
When I was a kid I thought that almonds came from peaches and nectarines, because the seed inside the seed (if you see what I mean) looks just like an almond.
When I was a kid I thought I could invent a car that ran on water.
When I was a kid I was going to be a famous writer living in Paris or Europe. Or I was going to be President of the United States of America. Or I was going to be a big-shot attorney. Or an artist. Or… (But I never dreamed I would be a wife or a mom. Go figure!)
When I was a kid I thought being a grown-up was going to be the most funnest and most exciting thing ever and life was going to be great and I was always going to be happy.
Yeah, life was simple back then. Some days, I want to be a kid again and think all those silly things and dream all those impossible dreams.
* “The Coast” is anything west of the Cascade Mountain pass along I-90 (you know, Seattle). And people from “The Other Side” were known simply as Coasties or 206-ers.
** I don’t know that I realized they were different races, I think I just thought they looked different than one another; which, I think, says something positive about the way my parents raised me to not think about race.
*** What we were actually (meant to be) saying was “Peace be with you”.
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Today, Nora was “reading” a book to me. She pointed at a bird and correctly named it. I said “Nora, you are so smart!”
And she said, in her little sing songy voice “yah! I ‘mart.”
I thought it was so wonderful that she knew that, embraced it and had no hang ups that made her say anything other than “Yah! I ‘mart”.
I want to still be like that, where I can believe anything is still possible for me, that I can have and do whatever I want. Where I know I am smart and capable. I want to hang on to that feeling forever.
“Yah! I AM smart!”
I love this, Amy. Please let’s get to the stage where we can be proud to be smart and not embarrassed. Keep your Nora on track with that!
I was allowed to say part of the Rosary in my foster home. I would say “our father horten heaven” instead of “who art in heaven.” I wondered why it made them laugh.
I always pictured God drawing when we said “Our Father, who ART in heaven…”
when i was a kid i thought i would marry the most beautiful lady in all the land. then i met her when i was a grown up and she just wanted to be friends. but i found her on the interweb so we can pick up where we left off.
hi frances. i have missed you. sorry to hear about all the bad stuff that has happened but i am glad you are still being happy. i bet it is hard.
mm
Mathew! I heard through the grape vine that you were asking about me. Ah, my own little stalker. 😉
Yes, too much bad stuff in the last year or so, but I am confident that there will be joy again! I’m glad you’ve found me – and now I have your email address! Will write soon.