Let’s Discuss: Switching Places

I like to play dress-up #3
Originally uploaded by lydiafairy

I’m 23 years old. I have two degrees, a fiance, a car, a credit card and the ability to buy alcohol at my whim. When I was nine my favorite thing to do was play “High School” with my best friend H. We’d get out some of my parents encyclopedias and enjoy showing up to “class” late because we were "making out" in the “hallway” with our “boyfriends.” Now, I’ve lived through high school and college and if I could have one wish it would be to go back to being nine.

My point is, I spent so much time when I was young pretending I wasn’t young. The lives of teenagers and adults seemed so much cooler. They had the ability to do things, to go places, to eat ice cream for dinner. But now?

Now at twenty three I know just how much more fun it was at nine. When I was nine “dinner” only meant eating, not cooking or cleaning. Traffic meant playing on my game boy or reading Baby Sitter’s Club books, not calculating how late I’d be to my meeting with a potential employer. At nine my possible future was determined by MASH and Cootie Catchers, now it’s determined by ten minute phone calls, credit ratings, and my ability to not yell at my fiance. I started worrying about the sexiness of my body way too early. I started shirking off my childhood before it was even in its prime. I started thinking about my college choices before I knew what college was really for. I tried to escape my childhood and in the process….I missed it.

Being a grown up is fun, at times. I won’t lie. My friends and I sometimes get giddy over the fact that we’re allowed to buy houses and people won’t look at us funny if we say we’re getting married. It’s nice to be able to drive and be able to walk into an airport, pick an interesting location and take a flight on a whim. Not that I’ve ever done it, but the possibility is there.

Even with the doors of adulthood open to me, I still sometimes wish I was nine. I miss my Barbies and playing pretend. I miss sleepovers and birthday parties and swimming all day long.

So, to you, dear readers I implore you-
Don’t waste your wonder years trying to be older.
Go to the pool. Eat a Popsicle. Dress up your dog. Make a treasure map. Climb a tree. Read a Nancy Drew novel. Enjoy your summer.

And remember, nothing is worth more than this day!

Post written by Shaba