Once there was a way to get back home...

Once there was a way to get back home...

Once there was a way to get back home and get back to that safe place as a kid. Whether you were cold from playing outside in the winter season, lost and found your way back, travelling, away at camp, there was always a way to get home.

And then somewhere along the way; after college for me, that road disappeared. The map I had in my head that would always faithfully get me back to my safe spot was simply gone. -I grew up.

I created a new spot that wasn't the safe spot I was used to. I convinced myself that it was just as good as my old spot because I wanted to be a new person and re-invent myself. My old place was for kids, and I was a grown up now ready to conquor the world.

And when I didn't conquor the world, and I had been beaten in aspects of life that I thought I was bullet proofed for, I still searched for that safe spot that was now committed to memory. -It was the third star to the right and straight on until morning. Problem is, I couldn't take that route because I stopped believing. I knew where it was, but just couldn't get back there because adults were not allowed. The world didn't want to accept kids at heart in the business world. They wanted hardened adults who stopped believing and bought into the money makes everything better club.

And I bought into it. In fact, I don't know anyone who didn't.

Now, that safe spot has been transpormed into a house with a 54" inch TV, an SUV, and because I am not completely soul-less, a dog whom I adore. I have convinced myself that this is home, but it compares very poorly to my family house when my parents were still together, in my bunk bed with my brother below me and my father tucking us in by telling us a story and my mother kissing me goodnight.

I hope my daughter never loses that map on how to get back home, and carries that balance with her for her entire life. I hope I never tell her to "grow up" as a parent. I hope that she learns that just because somebody is serious, that they don't have to buy into what they are peddling and buy it. I hope that she can laugh at life during bad times to enjoy the good ones.

If people tell me to grow up, I would just think to myself, "Have you no soul? What happened to you; the REAL you? The kid who knew how to have fun?" I feel bad for this person. Their map is a fairy tale that they stopped believing in, and forgot they were ever there. Less important things have been sold for them to worry about, and they have bought into it.

Maybe the reason the tale of Peter Pan is so loved, is because we can all relate to it, and we relive it through the eyes of our kids.

Well, I'm going to get back to that road and if I see you on it, we can talk about fun times, which is a lot more fun than what the rest of the world is going to do.