Day 57: Sparking Memories

Finding things from your childhood is by far on of the most unusual and surreal moments in time. It awakens memories you might not have thought of for years and they come so vividly. As soon as you touch that object, you are taken back to a time when you had before played with it and it's almost like you've traveled back in time.

Today I was going through some boxes I found from when I moved four years ago (a story for later). They had never been opened since we arrived in our new home. So I cracked them open to see just what they could contain, it was almost like I had stepped back in time to some of my earliest memories.

Little objects that would be so meaningless to others hold so much meaning to me. These objects made up incredibly important parts of my childhood and for years they just sat there in an unopened box. In all reality they will probably be boxed up again to be left for years, but the amazing part was going through them.

The littlest things sparked huge waves of memories. Touching them brought back visions from when I was so much younger, playing with these little things, ignorant of what was going on outside of my imaginary world. It's almost like those meaningless objects actually hold those memories.

Maybe somewhere underneath that inanimate surface is a place where memories go to live when childhood ends. Do those toys that were once so precious remember the last time you touched them? When was that? How many years ago did you decide to set it away somewhere and carry on with growing up?

So many years had passed since I held any of those toys. It had been at least four and a half years since I had seen them and at that point they didn't hold the kind of special magic that they do now. They were just objects. They still are. Little objects, meaningless to one yet so magical to another.

Isn't it amazing how something so trifling can hold such importance to a child who seems to have grown up? When you take a child out of childhood and set them down the path of growing up, eventually they will get to the place where they look back. That's when they realize how beautiful those years were. Make believe was everything and one little toy could be the door to an entire universe.

Growing up is part of life. It's a beautiful part of life and unavoidable, but it is so hard not to look back at your childhood and just wish you could spend one more day at that age. One more day to play with those objects, one more day to not have to worry about tomorrow, one more day to see the invisible and the magic that the world holds.

Childhood is a magical time of life. However, we never realize it when we're in the thick of it. It takes a slow realization or a sudden occurrence to overtake you to make you realize just how beautiful those years were. The pure innocence, the unwavering trust, the little kid without a care in the world that was untouched by all the problems we have come to know today. One day you'll look back and realize just how wonderful that period of time was.

And all you can do is smile and remember.

Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt