As children we play at being grown up, mimicking the adults in our lives.  Acting out roles and pretending to be the people we admire.  When the days of being a child come to an end so to does much of the fun that we had in the role playing.

Take this time to make sand castles on the beach, and angels in the snow.  Watch the clouds move and separate and form images in the skies.  See the butterfly flutter from flower to flower and the mother robin gather blades of grass to form a nest.  It is not that adults do not appreciate these things but their minds fill with so many responsibilities that distract them from the portraits of nature that  your young eyes see.

It is the desire for independence that hurries us to becoming adults.  Wanting to be free to make our own decisions.  It is the adult who learns that with maturity comes less freedom and then longs for the days of youth that bore less restrictions.

Each period of your life represents a passage.  Each with it's own challenges and enjoyments.  But for you Little One,  you have nothing to use as a comparison so you will look to the days ahead sometimes wishing they would pass much quicker.  To me I look back to the days wondering how they sped by without slowing down enough to enjoy them as I should have.

Trust me my Little One when I tell you to enjoy the childhood of your life.  One day you will look back on it with fond memories and a desire to once more be a child again if only in your dreams.

Know that when you fly a kite with your parents they not only see your joy and excitement but feel the child that was once them.  Experiencing again the sun on their face and looking up into the skies as the kite dips and dives on the currents of air.  Remembering how once they felt, as you will feel.  Yours will be a new emotion as the wind pulls against the string of the kite, feeling the force of the winds as your small hands hold tight.  To them it will be a memory of another windy day in a different field and the exuberance of another child that was once them.  Always the thoughts return to those of the child that once was us as these are the most precious days of new adventures.

There will be only one first in everything you do and many of these inaugural moments will be experienced as a child.   Enjoy them and commit them to memory, savor each and store them away carefully to recall when the days of youth are gone.

                                 Cheryl C. Helynck

                                             1999