I’m not one of those people who looks back in nostalgia about childhood—I always wanted to be an adult, as long as I can remember. Obviously, children are naïve about adulthood—believe they’ll have more freedom and control. And that’s the truth—it’s just not as they imagine. Here’s a few things I do miss as I age.
1. I miss being able to run up and down stairs, taking them two at a time. As a child, I don’t think I ever walked when I used stairs, and I’ve always lived in a house that had stairs. I could also put my leg over my head and around my neck—not a particularly useful talent, but no one else could do it.
2. I miss horses—the smell, touch and feel. As a child that was my obsession. I would hang out at the Ranz barn sitting on them and grooming them, I would ride friends’ horses, I would draw pictures of horses, I collected little horse statues, and I pretended my bicycle was a horse named “Red.” The bicycle was blue.
3. I miss being the best artist in my age group and among my friends. My mother made sure I had plenty of paper, and 65 years later I still have some of the art supplies she gave me (dried up, but I don’t throw them away).
4. I miss being able to eat all I wanted. My mother really didn’t keep a lot of extra food in the house, and snacking was so sensible it would make a 21st century child weep—sliced raw potatoes, raw cabbage, or a slice of bread sprinkled with sugar. But I never worried about putting on weight, which after age 18 was always on my mind.
5. I miss the sound of my mother’s voice as she read to my brother and me—Little House series (some published in the 1930s), My Book House, or other quality books—even the Little Engine that Could, and Chicken Little. Mother was great with accents and dialog, and always made the stories vivid. I already knew how to read, but it was more fun when she did it.
6. I miss Christmas excitement—lying on the floor shaking packages to see if I could guess what was in them. Hoping for new doll clothes made by my mother from left over fabric of my clothes. Knowing some things would be practical clothing items didn’t dull the thrill. Traveling to relatives for a big dinner and seeing cousins was part of it, and I’ve forgotten all the squabbles about who would sit where and how long we had to wait. Looking forward to Grandma’s check each year (all year) and planning how to spend it came after she stopped buying us individual gifts like art supplies and magazine subscriptions.
7. I miss winning the races. Although I was never athletic and didn’t like to sweat, there was a time, around age 8 when I could outrun everyone in my class, even the boys. Then I learned it’s not a good idea to outrun the boys, but OK to be ahead of the girls.
8. To this day, I’m not competitive and don’t care much for games, because someone always loses, but I miss playing cards, jacks, racing around outside at night with the neighborhood kids playing King of the Hill, Mother may I, and Hide and Seek. We had a big yard, and other the kids came to our house—I don’t think I ever went elsewhere at night.
9. I miss riding my bicycle to the next town in the summer for a five cent ice cream cone because they were ten cents in our town, and riding into the country to collect tadpoles in the creek with my brother. Not sure what we did with them or how long they lived.
10. I miss bringing dogs home or finding puppies and bringing them home, “Can I keep him, Mom?” There was Lassie 1 and 2, Jerry, Pretty, Curly, and Lady.
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