reverie (not regret)
What I miss:
Summer as a child, days spent reading. I mean entire days.
My son at three, chasing butterflies across the grass,
giggling with the joy of it.
Camping in an old canvas army tent that leaked,
but having fun, just the same.
Being able to eat whatever I wanted and not gaining weight.
Staying up until the wee hours of the morning,
listening to Billie Holiday in the dark.
Almost always being barefoot.
Sharing a bedroom with my sister.
Eating popcorn and drinking Pepsi
while watching Carol Burnett.
Walking to the store to buy a 50-cent-piece-size Sweetart.
Orange coolers. (A milkshake made from Creamsicles.)
Spending days in the cemetery a block from my house, alone.
(I know, I’m weird.)
Still believing that the glass slipper would fit.
First times.
Going shopping for school clothes.
A tiny black kitten named Panther.
The tree outside my bedroom window, swaying in the breeze.
Playing jail (hide and seek) in the street at dusk.
Having breakfast for dinner.
A dog named Coby.
Time.
July 16th, 2011 at 10:31 am
You captured those golden moments ~ I am in awe. thank you for this. xo
July 16th, 2011 at 10:39 am
first times and old times. i miss them too. but what i know is that there is more than one pair of glass slippers, and eventually a pair will fit – i think you have one foot almost there already, that Billie still sings long after dark, that dinner for breakfast is a good substitute for breakfast for dinner, that if you buy new school supplies for yourself, it is almost as good as new clothes. a lot of almosts, but one day those almosts will make a list of things you miss. xoxo
July 16th, 2011 at 11:08 am
wow. breathless with wonder. you are such a luminous writer, kelly. made me miss all those things, too (except we ate the creamsicles whole.) Also made me pine for the days when my children were in that world of wonders – embedded in feeling and light and joy, chasing butterflies, digging for earthworms in the compost heap, playing in the sandbox, planting a bean house and then, crawling inside when the runner beans covered the frame.
July 16th, 2011 at 11:11 am
sigh … this was so lovely to read this morning…
July 16th, 2011 at 11:14 am
This is one of the most touching, elegant posts I’ve read in a very long time. Here’s to reverie.
July 16th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Swoon.
July 16th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
thanks for taking me back to some sweet memories of my own!
July 16th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
such a special list ..
July 16th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
thanks for taking me along
into your reverie
~(Carol Burnette…adore her still)
~reading all day long and into the
night by flashlight is such a delicious
summery memory….to the sound of the old
attic fan pulling warm air and cricketsong
over my sunkissed skin:)
this was a delicious journey…thanks!
-Jennifer
July 16th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
i think your childhood was as brilliant as mine.
at the time, we were just living what we knew to be true. now as adults, we really understand, and look back at what we had and what we did, realizing it was all such a gift.
xoxo
July 17th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Big sigh…. “First times” I miss that too.
xo jj
July 18th, 2011 at 7:53 am
time….for sure, and thinking the days were full of endless possibility with no constraints at all. I think it was also about not thinking too much, that comes as we get older (and slows us down so much). childlike naivety and enthusiasm for all things, adventures and misadventures – and many a scraped knee. miss those days 🙂
July 20th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
We are a generation apart, but many of those things are precisely what I long for too. Those marvelous, endless golden summer days of childhood: always barefoot, always reading, hide and seek at dusk… there’s grape Kool-aid and Amy Grant instead of orange coolers and Billie Holiday in my world, but it is comforting to see the similarities. A kind of continuity that gives me hope for the future, if that makes sense.
July 22nd, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I know most of these stories…. 🙂
July 27th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
I love this post. Thank you for sharing such precious remembered moments. It makes me stop and think about what I don’t realize I miss.
I found you on August Break 2011 and just wanted to stop by and say hello. I can’t wait to see your photos!