I usually find myself a few times each day thinking to myself, “just once, I would love to go back in time and do…..” basically, reminding myself of the days or years in my past. It always brings a type of warmth to my heart and a smile to my face thinking of the friends, people, places and activities that I used to enjoy.
I know that it isn’t healthy to “overindulge” or “dwell on the past” too much on the things of the past, but sometimes, when life gets hard, crazy, or hectic, it’s always nice to sit back and think of the special things that happened…when life was simple and pure.
So, if I could, I would love to go back and do some of these things…just one more time…
- Stay outside until the street lights came on…which meant it was time to come home
- Have bike races around the block with baseball cards flapping in my spokes which we thought made us sound like we were riding motorcycles
- Hear the dinner bell ring…which called us all home for dinner
- Listen to grandma calling all of our cats letting them know that their food was ready
- Go Snapper fishing with my dad off the boat docks until sundown
- Help my mom decorate her classroom and get it ready for her students
- Play baseball and kickball with the kids in our neighborhood for hours each day
- Build a tree fort in the trees in our backyard
- Play and “Hide and Seek” in the woods and discover things around creeks and ponds
- Save the world from evil and chaos as super heroes Batman (and my brother) Robin
- Sit on my grandfather’s lap and listen to one more of his stories
- Go sleigh riding down “Mueller’s Hill”, fly off the snow ramps and navigate around the obstacles that we made
- Give my mom and dad one more hug
- Visit neighbors with my brother and then enjoy the treats that they would give us
- Have crabapple fights with the neighbors
- Build sandcastles then making a big sand wall trying to prevent the incoming tide from destroying my fortress
- Smell the aromas of the sausage and pepper sandwiches, homemade French fries, fresh cotton candy and pizza that that were always present at the boardwalk
- Hear the sounds of the binging and ringing of bells, whistles and other noises emanating from the boardwalk arcades
- Feel the sudden pull of the line on my pole as a fish got snagged on the hook and the excitement of the “fight”
- Experience my heart “skipping a beat” as I asked a girl on the first date of my life
- Watch my dad take portraits of people in his photography studio
- Take a family vacation with my wife and two boys
- Experience the excitement and magic of dating my wife then marrying her
- Go to Yankee Stadium with friends
- Stand on the rock jetty by the beach, watching fishing, luxury, and other boats come in
- Go to college again
- Play miniature golf during a beautiful summer night
- Go to a family reunion
I could go on and list more things for hours…but the one thing that I wish that I could do….just one more time…if only for a moment…would be to TELL my mom, dad and grandma…how much I loved them…and thank them for all the love that they showed me.