Tag: childhood constants

Like the ringing in my ears? No. Well, yeah, sure, if it helps the point.

When we are very young, the constants in our lives seem so very certain. Or maybe just my life. As a child, I had been privileged to live a life where I didn’t experience a ton of fear and insecurity. I know that was not the same for many in this country and around the world. I never expected to find myself without a roof over my head or in the middle of chaotic violence or any number of things people faced and still do on a daily basis. That would have been, in my young mind, absurd. We were fed. We played in the sun. Summers were long. Friends were everywhere. Families meant everything.

Like the moon and the stars and the sun and the changing seasons, these were the constants in my life. The things I could count on.

But things change. Life can be cruel. Expectations, hopes and dreams are dashed. Sometimes, it seems the only constant is disappointment, worry, dread.

There are bad things happening in the world. Power struggles and wicked, heartless people and climate change, to name a few. Our fellow humans are dying at the hands of others. People are hungry, displaced, yearning for a better life. But as I expressed above, this is nothing new. These, too, are unfortunate and tragic constants. And these are things we must stand up and fight against, as the generations preceding ours also did.

When I was a child, however, I was protected from the nasty stuff. Somewhat. Perhaps because the internet wasn’t a thing. Or because I was too enamored of bike-riding, rolling in the leaves, reading under my covers with a flashlight. I don’t know.

Now I am a grownup, more or less. With the current state of the world, the aging of my generation, the losses that pop up unexpectedly and inevitably, I feel adrift. Lost, sometimes. Yearning for those days in the sun. The long summers. The friends everywhere. Family meaning everything.

Egads, this does seem a depressing post. Perhaps I should get to the point before someone breaks into the refrain from the ELO song. All together now: Don’t bring me down…Grooss. It wouldn’t be me bringing you down, actually, but I get where you’re coming from. On a lighter note, what the heck is “grooss”? Anyone?

Looking back with my heart to a deceptively simpler, happier time isn’t necessarily the answer to my dilemma, but it helps. As long as my feet and head remain in the present, addressing what issues I can and leaving in the hands of those more capable the issues I can’t. Right? To be honest, there are very few issues (at least in my life) that I can’t personally address—even if only in some small way. Strive to correct, alleviate, support, improve, point out, protect. Isn’t that what a grownup-more-or-less is supposed to do?

To maintain my strength for the everyday challenges, however, requires a reminder of those old constants. In daily and frequent doses. Yes, I must remember I still love the sun on my face, the changing seasons, the glories of nature. I must continue to take pleasure in the friends I have, although they may be fewer in number. And love my family with all my heart. These things, these joys, these constants remain. They really do.

I feel like one of those signs hanging on people’s walls. A sentiment, sometimes sappy, sometimes beautifully evocative, nearly always straight to the point, written with calligraphic flair. And really, when I look back at what bound all my childhood constants together, they are summed up in one word. One I could put on a sign, if I possessed superb penmanship.

Cherish.

That’s a word beginning with C, too, and a darned good one.