At retreat this past weekend I was “dorming” with 5 soon to be 8th grade girls and two other “adults”.  Observing junior high conversations made me think about how great it is to be a kid.  Granted that some junior high kids to high school kids do have a lot of drama, these girls were still 12 (only 12!) and very young.  Their minds weren’t worrying about this and that.  They worried about silly things, like how come those girls don’t like us, but mainly, they just had a great time with each other.  They were in the moment all the time.

It’s funny how much that changes as one grows older.  We look at children who just sit around doing nothing, having joy just rolling a ball around – ah, the simple days.  Then you get to elementary school where you just play all day.  Junior high – who likes who?  High School – who likes who still; trying to balance a life of extracurricular activities along with academics; college prep tests.  College – what should I study; what do I want to be.  Post-College – where is this job taking me; where do I want to live; is this what I aspire for in life.  And on and on it goes.

We have to handle more and more things as we get older and so we often look back and admire the wonders and innocence of youth.

Can we be kids forever?