I watched my 4-year-old brother through the glass wall of the playground where I had just dropped him. He was happily running around as he hopped up the stairs to the slides. I chuckled, realizing that we all were once little kids running around, worrying about nothing, as we thanked the great weather of a sunny afternoon.
Just how fast time flies without us realizing it, it’s almost as if our childhood memories are in a state of oblivion, as adulting comes rushing faster than the possibility of those memories fading away. We forget to hold on to it, we forget to remember our bright days of childhood, looking as if it’s so far away from us. We feel excited when summer comes as a seven-year-old, probably jumping for joy at the idea of almost 3 months of no classes. We create little plans for ourselves with our playmates just down the neighborhood, knowing that our afternoons will be spent playing in the parks in a game of hide-and-seek or tag-and-it. Not to mention the refreshing feeling of a cold bath at six o’clock in the evening after sweating while our mothers pat cool baby powder on our backs.
Indeed, we are no longer kids in the park as we grow older. Our priorities change, and our dreams begin to unfold before us, to start chasing when we slowly open our eyes to life’s offers as young adults. Perhaps, a thought passes through our heads: whether life becomes this serious as we now face adulthood. I wonder then why change happens without us noticing. We now find our child-like selves kept in the deepest layers of our beings, if it is no longer essential for us to feel, and because of that, life becomes a little lonely. Is adulting here to stay for good? And if it does, do we forget our roots?
Now, when I think about summer as a 20-something girl, I look at my little brother realizing that just like me, I was a 4 year old too who knew that there’s so much of life ahead of me and until then little me chooses to lay in the sun with some dirt on her legs from playing her favorite game of tag-and-it with her friends. As we grow older, we lose track of the years where the past version of ourselves lies, young and free, laughing and smiling in the mundanity of our lives. But the good news is, once we start remembering that we were once the little kids we see in the parks on the warm and bright summer days, we realize that sometimes life isn’t so serious. The hustle towards our dreams can co-exist with the child-like heart that emphasizes love and lightness in the things around us – first minute when we get out of bed with hopes for a smooth and productive day, a morning cup of coffee with the first bite of food, and the opportunities we now hold in our lives whether it be for work or education. All these can help with perspective and intention to continuously be curious about life, just like the little kid that will always live within us. As Kalpesh Dasai says in the poem Brighter Days,
And suddenly the days seem brighter,
And the nights don’t seem too long
The heart seems to grow lighter,
And the soul, strong.
When kindred souls meet,
Along this lonely pathway,
There’s someone to share with and greet,
And then,
What troubles us will be driven away
-Brighter Days / Kalpesh Dasai
It reminds me of the gracefulness in young hearts where summers feel natural, bright, warm, and hopeful, where we can safely meet ourselves with another version of us. Summer brings brighter days, but summer is a reminder that we can live every day striving for lightness. It’s sometimes that simple to suddenly see the days become brighter while we appreciate the long silent nights, summer slowly seeps into my soul, you only have to tap within the child you once were that’s in you.