Childhood

Childhood. What an important word. It brings back moments of happiness and other emotions. When I think about my childhood I think about memories like going swimming at my cousin’s house, playing outside with my friends, and keeping to myself. But three memories stand out above the rest. 

Childhood brings back thanksgiving dinners and playing football with my friends and family. Thanksgiving turkeys, delicious and tasty, filled my stomach and mouth with wonderful taste. Thanksgiving fills me with memories like me and my whole family sitting in the living room and watching football. I also remember when we use to play our family Thanksgiving football game. This is important because it is one of the only times that my family got together.

Childhood also brings up memories of when  school was easy and simple. Back before sports, clubs, cliques, and clicks, likes, and comments. Back when school was school and you could just be a kid, and not worry about colleges, work, losing friends. When all you did was just go outside and play with kids that are your friends and kids that weren’t your friends at the moment. Thinking about Elementary school makes me reminisce about my first day of kindergarten. I thought that the school was so big and I felt so small standing next to fourth and fifth graders. School was important to me because it gave me a break from everything going on at home. At least it did until my last day of fifth grade. That day and the summer that followed was sad because I had to say goodbye to my friends. I had to say goodbye to my dad. That’s when I moved to Kennett to live with my mom. 

My dad was an important part of my childhood. Now that I am starting to grow up and transition into adulthood I look back on things that my Dad used to tell me and my brother before we moved to Kennett, like “there is nothing that you can’t do”, or “if you set your mind to it you can achieve anything”. He did a lot of things with me and my brother like when we went camping for the whole summer. The smell of the damp woods after it rained, the smell of the firewood burning. I remember when he used to cook dinner every night. The smell of cooking food filled the house and made my mouth water. The taste of the food was savory and made me want more. This is important to me because it was my dad who was there when I was a kid. He was there for all the concerts, School activities, plays, conferences, award ceremonies, he was even there for things like my Mother day play in third grade.

Childhood. What a complicated word. It brings back memories of thanksgiving dinners, simpler times in school, and my close relationship with my dad.