I remember when I was a child,
My weight on my toes,
My stomach peering forwards,
Arms extended, fingers sprawled.
My eyes displaying only one message,
And the eyes that met mine received it,
Bent its knees, crouched its back,
And lowered her arms,
Hands taking my weight off the ground,
Her eyes taking it off my mind,
She cradled me to her chest,
My chin resting on her shoulder,
She began to pat my back
My plump wrist rose,
Making slow circles on her warm arms,
Our secret code.

I remember when I was a child,
Autumn wind rushing through me,
Tangling my hair and coloring my cheeks,
I stepped out my screen door,
The one my dog ripped every week,
I dashed onto the green,
Sprinting towards my source of joy,
I gripped the chain in my hand,
Pulling it back with me as I jumped,
Landing on the rubber crescent,
The one that cradled me for years,
My feet as my weapon,
Shifting my weight back and forth,
Until my world began to move with me,
I watched the earth go by,
Filled with the simplest goal,
I wished to see it all turn,
And fly so high I could change it,
Turn everything on its head,
I pushed and I pumped,
Kicking hard and fast,
But I never made it over,
My first broken dream.

I remember when I was a child,
When school was new and exciting,
Filled with friends and teachers,
People with kind faces and open hearts,
And my sisters would show me off,
Bringing me in for show and tell,
And their rotating cast of friends,
That would play with me,
Brushing my hair,
Teaching me to cartwheel,
Letting me climb up their legs,
Until I grew too tall,
And they moved away,
And I was left alone.

And now, I am still I child,
But not filled with that sense of joy,
Waiting, as I always will,
To grow up,
To be the one that gets to leave,
And I try to be patient,
Because one day,
I will look back and write,
Write of my days on the peak of freedom,
And I’ll smile,
Laughing at how time has romanticized my memories.