Do You Remember?

I am reminded every day

Of how quickly we forget
The simple pleasures of childhood.
Do you remember?

The important feeling of carrying a stick around for hours on end

Only letting it go when you find a bigger and better one?

The delight of stepping in water that is up to the ankles of your rubber boot
And the cool sensation of that murky water surrounding you?

The exciting challenge of NOT stepping on a crack in the sidewalk

(You just might break your mother's back!)

And the heroic leap you'd take to pass over?

The joy of swinging through the air
And imagining you are a bird, flying high in the sky above?

The curiousity that overwhelmed you as you tried to peek through the holes of the drain
And the entertainment of dropping rocks through those holes to obtain the loveliest 'kerplunk' sound?

The sheer thrill of realizing you can make pictures and letters in the sand with a stick

And that you can erase it with a swipe of your foot?

The hilariousness of the 'squish-squelch' sound that walking in mud conjures up

And the immense pride of having made those perfect, deep prints?

The obsession of watching the ants or spiders or worms or slugs

- the creatures that you find every which way-

That blow your mind with their smallness and speed and their mysteries that you have yet to discover?