Childhood

Do you remember your childhood? I have several real memories of childhood that show it was a truly magical time. It's hard to explain, except you probably had something of it too. There was this persistent feeling, in certain places, that could be summed up like this: "It's always been like this. It'll always be like this."

There was a hill near my grandparents' home that had a little trail through some small trees, maybe 15 feet, then a part of the bank was caved in, leaving a gap of about five feet, then after that the trail continued for maybe another 10 feet. We would go through that path with every aspect of it memorized, slick spots on the trees from where we grabbed, and we could hit that hill part, grabbing a branch and propelling us on. Never an accident. When I think of that childhood thought of "It's always been like this. It'll always be like this," that's the first place I think of. I can still almost do it in my memory, but it's more vague.

It's a stretch probably, but if you've ever read Robert Johnson's book "He," (I think it is) this is almost one of those magical grail moments he mentions that you have as a child. I would like to bottle up that trail, that hill, and the rest of the trail and have it under glass. But, alas, it's gone. I've driven by there and it's definitely not there anymore. So the truth is, it won't always be like this.

Maybe someday when I'm being "drawn to the light" the path will be exactly like that!