Childhood Memories

When I think of my childhood, I think back as far as I can remember, (probably around age five,) to around thirteen. And often when I do, I dwell upon a lot of pain, mainly rooted from my family. From the way I saw it, most people think back to their childhood and remember playing outside with their friends, going to school, and having no cares in the world. But I was filled with resentment. I wish that I hadn't missed out on so much and I wished that I hadn't wanted to grow up so fast.

But you know what? Everyone has something hard in their past that they have dealt with. Loneliness is not uncommon, and neither are losses in the family, divorce, fighting, the list goes on. There are so many things that can bring down your childhood but nothing can ever ruin it. As I said before, it depends on your perspective and how much you allow yourself to dwell on it.

So I'm gonna take this time to think about all the great memories of my childhood and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Here are some memories, most of which are pretty common among all American children, hopefully you can take a moment to relive them as I will.

One of my favorite memories was Disneyland. I was lucky enough to go three or four times throughout my childhood because my mom's side of the family lived about twenty minutes away. There's not much that can compare to that warm feeling of innocence and happiness that fills you up as you float with your brothers or sisters on a boat, listening to "It's a Small World After All" or sitting on your dad's shoulders, watching colorful fireworks on a hot summer night as "When You Wish Upon a Star" plays in the background. That feeling right there, that's happiness. After all, it is called the happiest place on earth! Sometimes when I want to go back to that feeling, I turn on one of the Disney Classics. My favorite is probably Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland.

Best memory number two? Christmas with the family. Everyone who loves you all packed into one room, with presents, and delicious food? How can that not be amazing? All the smiles, the pie, the christmas music, the kids table? Everything about it was wonderful. My family is a little split up now and Christmas has not been the same for about seven or eight years, but nevertheless, those years are ones I will hold onto dearly for the rest of my life.

I know I'm probably gonna bore you if I sit here listing all of my great memories, cause I know if I tried, I could probably come up with a butt load. So alas, here is one more.

Ummm.....Halloween, anyone? I don't know about you guys but I would start celebrating halloween about a month ahead of time. My family and I would decorate the whole house, listen to spooky music, watch scary movies, (remember Goosebumps?) go to the pumpkin patches with haunted corn mazes and hay rides, carve pumpkins, pick out our halloween costumes, attend Halloween parties, and most importantly... trick-or-treating! I can still vividly remember coming home with my brothers after a long and successful night of trick-or-treating, dumping out our bags of candy, trading, comparing and watching some movie on the Disney Channel. Usually Hocus Pocus, and having the time of our life. I miss that.

My point is, when you're depressed or regretful about a past experience as a whole, it's like wearing a pair of glasses that filters out the happy stuff and only allows you to focus on the bad. Sometimes it takes a little more effort to really convince yourself and specifically think about each individual thing in order to finally take off those glasses. But it can be done, just as I did. And when you do it, it will truly brighten your day.