Birthday Week

Good Friday,

So on Tuesday I hit the quarter of a century mark. Yes, I’m 25 years old, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it’s been a bumpy, but pretty awesome, ride so far, and I’m excited to see what happens next. On the other hand…. I’m quarter of the way to 100!! *runs in circles and screams*

K, breathing.

I like being an adult. I like understanding the world. Well, there are a lot of things I don’t like about the world, but on a day like today when the sun is shining and the sky is that perfect shade of blue, there’s a lot to love about this planet.

That said, I miss childhood. I miss the days when it was socially acceptable to make a tent out of your mother’s dining room chairs and a blanket. I miss the days when I could believe lions were friendly because, in the movies, they befriended animals who would otherwise be food. (Now I know there’s one person reading this thinking “You don’t still do those things?” Ten points if you admit it in the comments.) Sometimes I want to go back. I want to believe again. I want my dining room to be a forest or the ocean floor or a distant world inhabited by orange dancing bookshelves. (It made sense in my head.) But as I’ve been told countless times, there’s no going back.

I’m going through my stuff because my family is trying to get our two storage units down to one. I opened a container last week and found my Barbies. You have to understand, when I was a kid, I had more Barbies than one could possibly know what to do with. Prior to moving out of my old house, I gave most to my little cousin and kept my eight or so favorites, dressed in my favorite outfits. I opened another container and found all my stuffed animals. I grabbed my teddy bear in a bear hug (pun maybe intended) and didn’t let go for a good ten/fifteen minutes. There are probably video cameras in the unit hallways. I didn’t care. I wanted to feel like a kid again.

My local friends threw me a birthday party last Saturday. (BTW. Thanks, guys!) There was talking, cake, and, my favorite, games. We (a bunch of adults) played Apples to Apples and had a blast. Yes, Cards Against Humanity is the “more adult” version, but Apples to Apples is family friendly. (Plus, with friends like mine, it can be just as horrible.) The point is, we played. A bunch of adults sat down and played a game that didn’t involve gambling, stripping, or drugs/alcohol. That needs to happen more often. My mom says she’s perpetually 12. I think she’s got the right idea.

Now, how am I going to relate this to writing? Maybe I’m not. (Okay, I am.) Below are the 5 books I loved most as a kid. Feel free to add your favorite childhood reads in the comments…beside your admission that you still make tents out of chairs and a blanket.

These are in no particular order.

-A WRINKLE IN TIME
-CHARLOTTE’S WEB
-OF TWO MINDS
-THE HERMIT THRUSH SINGS
-GOODNIGHT MOON

As always, thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

P.S. I share a birthday with Jim Henson—you know, creator of the Muppets. Happy belated, Jim! For some birthday Muppet fun, check out last year’s bday post.