I want to go back to the prime of my youth where I got whoopings for substituting lies for truth. I want to go back to when weekends were so darn boring, but I always woke up in time to catch “One Saturday Morning.”I want to go back to when skinned knees were the only things that brought tears to my eyes and granny’s lap was always available to sooth me of my cries. I want to go back to when heart breaks were non-existent. Back to when laughter, happiness, and smiles were consistent. I want to go back to when I thought my daddy was superman, because he would kill the bugs that scared me and my brothers, with just his bare hands. I want to go back to the time that “going out” meant you had to catch me at recess, and “coodies” were the only characteristics boys possessed. I want to go back to when I never had to concern myself with the actual concept of a Valentine because my whole 4th grade class gave me cards and vowed to “be mine”. I want to go back to when people weren’t criticized for being unique, and the only time people cheated was in four square, and hide-and-go-seek. I want to go back to the time when reading Goosebumps books was almost as cool as taking my plastic cartoon character lunch box to school. To when my biggest struggle was to eat a warhead, they were so sour they brought tears to my eyes, but they were just as much as a necessity as Lisa Frank school supplies. I want to go back to when I called my friends, knowing I didn’t have nothing to say, but I picked up that brick-like phone and dialed those seven digits anyway! I want to go back to the times when I considered myself a pro-at Sega, Gameboy, and Super Nintendo! I want to go back to when everything was “da bomb!", and we thought we could tell each other’s futures by the lines in our palm. Back to when we all could probably agree that we valued the lives of our GigaPets and Tamagotchis! I want to go back to when I knew the Macarena by heart and my biggest fear was watching “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” When “talk to the hand!” was enough said when I tried to pretend like I didn’t care if Barney was dead. I wanna go back to when Caller ID-was the coolest thing in the world to me. When slap bracelets, Pogs, and Backstreet Boys were "what that was" and I collected the most random stuff, just because! I wanna go back to Rugrats, Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers. Back to when my parents actually emphasized not talking to strangers. Back to before I realized that all of this would disappear and eventually boys would no longer have coodies, and heart breaks and confusion would be my life's new premiere. Episodes like "I like her but he likes her", or "He’s interested in her but her friend is who I prefer", or "I'm ready to settle down, but she’s still confused, while my heart is being 'unintentionally' abused", or "I'm trying to give her my all, but she doesn’t know how to accept it, so in return, I'm constantly getting my all rejected", or "I'm down for her but she’s not ready to be down for me, and I cry so much it's amazing that my eyes don’t bleed". But I’m done with that, and as a matter of fact, I don’t even think I want to go back, because even if I did, and everything was all good there would always be those things that will never be understood. I mean, I’d stand tall for a while, but eventually I’ll stumble, and with life, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. So I, cherish those memories and all the times I got burned I will charge it to the game, call it a lesson learned. I mean, I have to admit that I often miss the chapter of my youth, because lies were always outweighed by the truth. But with God on my side, I'm convinced that everything will turn out okay because it was yesterday's weaknesses that made me stronger today. I realized I don't want to go back . . .
