So you know how as kids nothing really seemed to matter and the hardest decision was trying to decide which piece of candy you wanted at the grocery store? A simpler time. I stole some Skittles once, my mom made me put them back though. You know how it is, where she walks you back into the store like you've just gotten the death penalty. You have to explain to the lady named Beatrice, or some old person name like that, why you're coming back into the store with tears in your eyes and terror on your face. Those were the days.
Along with stealing Skittles, I also built rocket ships out of Legos that flew past the speed of sound and into my father's lap. I wanted to be an astronaut, well come to think of it, I still want to be an astronaut. NASA clearly doesn't know what they're missing. If they knew that I was ready to pilot their missions to the moon they certainly wouldn't have closed down. But alas the economy. It got to you too NASA. You will be missed.
There were other days when I would pretend to be a professional basketball player and a professional soccer player. Life was grand and the summer days were long. I would play in the backyard on our playground, attempting to dismount the swings in a manly fashion. I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast, and would practice jumping off the swings all day long. I planned on going to the Olympics in the parallel and the horizontal bars. As a child I decided I would choose to leave the rings event to my friends. They would of course get the silver and bronze medal while I would get the gold. Me and my wife (who would also be a professional athlete) would change the world, have kids, and make it a better place.
The past is a curious thing. Hindsight is always 20-20 they say. But as clear as the past can be, a lot of times it looks like the present. I'm pretty sure I can put down a bet that I won't be a professional athlete, but just like in the past I still desire to change the world. And I still desire a family. That hasn't changed. Perhaps hindsight is 20-20 because what drove us to dream as kids still drives us to dream today. The possibility of eternal impact transcends all ages. If we think about it we all still have a piece of a childhood dream that still is a possibility. Who says we have to stop dreaming because we're old now?
So here I am, sitting in my kitchen, lifting my drink to the ceiling, toasting the future. "Here's to dreaming, here's to hindsight." May the ambition that drove us to be kids in the past, drive us to dream like kids in the future.
