To Be A Kid Again

Louis de Bernieros once said, ~ Did you know that childhood is the only time in our lives when insanity is not permitted to us but expected.~ Without a doubt, being a kid of the 70's, 80's, and early part of the 90's was/still is considered tremendously awesome to be a part of unlike the childhood of kids today. For it was a thrilling and not to mention interesting situation indeed for those of us who grew up/survived/made it out alive doing activities that were deemed absolutely fun and creative, but at the same time were seen as insanely crazy. Hey, it was most definitely a different time back in our day when cell phones, laptops, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. didn't exist and each one of us had to create our own form of entertainment considered to be absolutely priceless...our imagination.

Let me ask you this question to all you MacGyvers out there, when it comes to your imagination what type of insanity could you put together with the following items: your bike, a large piece of plywood, and several bricks or whatever was laying around. Now, put it all together and what do you have? If you said you're very own Evil Knievel start up stunt show then you would be right. I think it's safe to say every boy and girl as well growing up created their own makeshift ramp to jump over and even though it didn't look impressive it served its purpose in being a form of entertainment lasting for hours on end. Unfortunately, there were drawbacks such as landing wrong causing considerable pain, especially for a guy if you know what I mean.

If you think about it, building forts made of wood in your backyard or in a secret place in the woods the way you wanted it was a way to use one's imagination. As a kid, it's fun but now as an adult you would be seen as insane for even playing in one let alone building one. However, if you still have your inner child building a fort within the confines of your own house using the "tools" like blankets, pillows, couch cushions, and the couch itself are necessary to create your so-called fortress of solitude. How many of us remember spending hours on end having an awesome time spending with your siblings, friends, and maybe even your parents just bonding, as well as talking with each other? Let me tell you something, as an adult building a fort with your couch is something that doesn't sound insane at all to the point where I would actually find myself doing it knowing I turn 35 in two months.

For the question can be asked to those who used their imagination when it involves a red wagon, a very steep hill in your neighborhood, and friends who you trusted to be lookouts? We've all at some point back in the day nearly killed ourselves as kids doing our own version of Cool Runnings. Thinking about it, we held on for dear life using not only the handle to attempt to steer but our own feet as the brake pedal, which worked 99.9% of the time. Oftentimes, we knew it was a bad idea but the thrill of hurtling down the hill at a great amount of speed superseded common sense during that particular time. Thankfully, many of us survived practically unscathed to where we almost got hit by passing cars because our friends were too pumped to notice cars were coming so much so, that we all ended up saying these 4 words...let's do it again!

In retrospect, there are so many things we did that were considered insanely crazy when we put our imagination to good use. For instance, pretending to be Spider-Man climbing the side of our bedroom door and if we fell...you know we all did...we endured a possible concussion afterwards. In addition, we jumped from couch to couch pretending that the floor was made out of lava or anything fire related. You see, the power of our imagination is a truly powerful weapon that I'm sad to say isn't being utilized by today's generation of ankle biters. In any case, for each one of us we've all suffered the battle wounds of our childhood essentially considered badges of honors using our imagination. In the end, when you think back and reminisce with your friends concerning the all out insanity you think to yourself or say out loud ah...to be a kid again.