I wish I were 11 again.
Make it June 1990.
Before I knew first hand about a thing war.
Before I had to drive.
Before life went to hell.
Take me back to 1990.
I had it easy then.
The only boy that mattered to me then was Jonathan Knight.
Oh no, he wasn't Becky's today.
I knew all the words to "Step By Step."
Barbie was still popular.
She wasn't a taboo toy at that age.
Jackie and I were best of friends.
Forget a 3 years age difference;
All that matter was that we enjoyed each others' company.
Both having overprotective mothers didn't hurt, either.
Summer nights never ended; they lasted forever.
I could spend most of the day out in the sun,
Except the afternoon was hell and
The air conditioning was a treat.
Riding my bike around the block was a treat.
Walking to the Shoppette was a big deal.
Usually, it was just to get some Coke.
Cold Coke was the sweetest thing to my mouth.
Pumpkin was still young and he liked to escape outside.
He always smelled funny when he crawled under one of the
Buildings in the courtyard.
And don't forget the pool!
Pool time was free at Bragg.
The only bad part about spending the tailend of
An afternoon at the pool was the 10 minutes breaks
For chlorine treatments.
By the time you were warm and dry, the pool was ready
To play in in again.
Talk about shock to the body!
I still can recall all the boys hunting June bugs down.
I still can recall the patches of clover in our playground.
I still can recall the freedom in the air.
It was such an innocent time for me.
Funny how now, I still would like to play in that
Time again.
©2003 S.A.L.
Writer's note:
I wrote this at the beginning of April, 2003. I was a bit nervous about the war in Iraq at the time. I was thinking when was it that my innocence really disappeared? I can't pin point the time. I'm writing about my life before Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
