Went to a little buddy's birthday party yesterday. He turned 8 right in front of our eyes. It was really something.
Kids have it made now. Of course they lack the frame of reference to understand their complete and total victory over family life. They are attuned to the messaging that things could always be better for them. I asked a kid at the party what could possibly make it better and he had a very specific answer: water balloons.
Never challenge a child to the game of "what could be"... few things will give you a clearer idea of the great and silent distance between yourself and childhood. That's what I've learned. I like to think of myself as childlike and imaginative, but these little fuckers never tire in dreaming up new paths to happiness. They do it in their sleep.
We didn't have it so well in the 70s, in Florida, as they do now. Though I remember seeing news' reports of school closings for snow days, somewhere way up in the distant north of us, and I would dream of that for all of us, too - the free days. Dreaming of snow falling over Florida, the swamps and the alligators and Mickey Mouse and me.
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