Remember when we were just kids, all those years ago? Remember how carefree we were, when we had no fear of the future? Remember how we used to walk to the creek  through the woods and dip our toes in the cool water, letting our worries flow away with the current? Any concerns we had were washed away for hundreds of miles, finally emptying into the vast ocean, never to be seen again.

Remember how we would run through the tall meadow grass, butterflies and grasshoppers taking flight in our wake? Remember how we would collapse on the soft, green hill, wide smiles on our faces as we took in the azure sky?

Don’t you remember?

Remember when the sky turned to dusk, and the sun left golden streaks across the horizon? Remember how welcoming the cool air felt after the heat of the day? And then we would watch the stars appear, while the fireflies shimmered all around us, and we could hear the bullfrogs croak in the pond behind the barn.

Why can’t you remember?

Then came school, and friends, and life. Soon it grew hard to keep holding on to our childhood memories. And eventually you said, “Forget it. Those days are gone.” You went off to join the chaos of the world.

Is that why you can’t remember?