Time Warped

Kids don't appreciate a lot of things because most of the time, whatever their hearts desire end up on their laps on a silver platter. They don't see the progression from nothing to something. They don't comprehend the work and time and energy and money that it takes to get it there. It just appears.

They keep yelping in frustration from being stuck inside young bodies that so desperately want to grow up, imagining that their lives will become much more pleasurable with each passing year. But instead, what we all know happens, is the reality they face dictates a much bleaker outcome; the older we get, the harder life becomes.

No longer can we rollerblade our summers away. Watermelon stains on our shirts are no longer cute. Work and bills replace endless free time spent building forts, jumping on trampolines, and burning ants with magnifying glasses.

We can't wait to be old enough to have sex, drink, get married, and to have children. And depending on the order of those milestones, one might end up having crossing all four off the list in the same night.

As adults, have we learned anything in our wise old years? Because it seems that we keep putting aside our life right now in hopes for the "one day when" everything will be just right. One day when we have more money. One day when we move to a bigger house. One day when I look good in a bikini. One day when we have kids/the kids are older/the kids leave the house. One day when.

But it's the right now that matters because if we keep living for one day when then we will miss out on right now. Because our older selves tell our children to enjoy the freedom of their younger years. That one day they will be actually be paying $120/hour at a day spa to be "bored", that they would kill for a nap and be counting down the minutes until bedtime. So maybe we should all take our own advice: stop waiting until "one day when" and just live for right now. Besides, it's hard to get a watermelon stain on a bikini.