327, 326, 325, 324 Days

327, 326, 325, 324 Days until you depart

It has been a few days. On Saturday we had a moment where we talked about the blog and I told you which moment from the day I would be writing about. It was how you came in with the epic hunger save and suggested we go to Cumby’s to get snacks. We all laughed at you and were like, “what could we get there, a pack of gum and a slushy?” We went and it was a true snack oasis with an incredible variety or salty, sweet, junky, and healthy options. We talked about how the story heavily praised Cumby’s and what would happen if next year you were not living near a Cumby’s, how would you bring any new friends to your favorite snack store. Then we listed other stores like 7-11 and Wawa and wondered if they were as good, and hypothesized that it would be fun to find out. 

 All that happened, while across the globe terrorists made headlines by committing atrocities against innocent people. Thinking about the difference between my time in school and the global crises I was aware of, versus the ones that you have had to face in your school years is sobering. Your generation is much more politically aware then mine was at that time, and though I am hopeful that your political acumen will result in a brighter future for your generation, I cannot help but feel bitter at all the innocence your generation has been robbed of. 

I wish you knew a time where whole neighborhoods of kids would play together until the streetlights turned on or you were called in to eat dinner. I wish you knew a time where there was a limit to how much media you were exposed to because every night the television stations would actually stop showing programing, the phone could only be used by one person at a time, and computers were not interesting to kids unless you wanted to learn how to write in BASIC. I wish you knew a time where you could just be in a moment or with yourself, with a book, or with a friend, and nothing would disturb your peace until you decided to go find someone else to interact with. 

I know every generation waxes nostalgic about their youth to those who are younger than them, but regardless if your generation, mine, or your grandparents had it the best, I do wish that all children would have a childhood where they could just be children. Where they could just do typical children things like talking about convenient store snacks, and not ever have to deal with all the ways people harm people.