The Inner Child

 I know what I want to say, but not exactly sure how to say it.  Think. Remember.  Way back.  Go back to that time before now.  Long before now.  The time before you knew so much,  before you learned so much.  Before all of those experiences.  Before all of the hurt, the deceit, the abuse.  Travel backwards in time,  skip all of the emotions and feelings in between now and then.

Go back to the earliest memory that you can reach.  

Remember when you were a kid?  When things were simple?  When you didn't know what the world had in store? 

I was happy then.  I was excited about life.  I had hopes and dreams. 

 

 What happened between then and now?  Too much to tell here.  Most will never be told.  All of the experiences, the excitement, the joy, the tragedy.  But, that's not what I'm looking at right now.  I'm looking at the 9, 10, 11 yr old kid.  The feisty red headed one. The freckle faced, buck toothed, skinny little obnoxious kid.  The one who was stoked on life and would get pumped when the wind was blowing hard.  He would get up and rolling in the morning, out the door, on his bike or go sailing.  Not worried about  lunch, or where the next meal was coming from.  

Then it happened.  Life, change, sadness, leaving, hard times, loneliness, moving again. New school, new friends. New environment.  Cold winter.  Getting older. Get a job. Can't escape the concrete jungle.  Girlfriend, heartbreak.  College, struggle, graduate.  Job, struggle, leave.  Get married, struggle (this one is worth the struggle) stay married.

 We joke. The struggle is real.  But it is no joke.  The struggle is real.  To find our place in this world (thanks Michael W Smith).  It all seems so complicated. 

But just stop for a minute.  Think back, back to that little kid.  The one having fun and living life to the fullest.  Rarely bored and always ready for an adventure.  That is who I am.  I'm that kid looking out at the world with wide eyed wonder.   I'm the kid with a big heart and bigger dreams.  I'm the kid who is scarred and sometimes timid.   You are too.  Think back and be that kid.  Be that kid and squeeze every second out of every day.  

 Go back and rescue that inner child.  Run with him, ride with him, sail with him.