The Simplicity of It all

It’s funny what having a simple conversation about the weather can do. You start out saying that a hundred degrees is newsworthy, and your mind wanders, reaching back through time to a time that was simpler than it is now. Or at least, mine does.
Think, dear reader, of the summertime. Of kids in the back yard, the sun beating down upon them, but they don’t care. They’re too hopped up on adrenaline and soda to really care. Some have backyard pools. Those are the cool ones. (That was me, by the way. I was the cool one.) But there’s one very specific way of thinking about it that I remember. It’s the sound of the air conditioning units outside houses, with the hum of traffic a few streets over, children’s voices carrying on a gentle breeze, and the birds above. Maybe the screen door is open and the sound of the TV playing some kid’s show adds to the pleasant atmosphere.
I feel we’ve lost things like this, or I’ve simply aged out of it. It’s the little magical moments such as this that I think our world is slowly losing to anger, fear, and just needing to keep up. The trips to the movie store or Toys R Us or, where I live, Shopko that I’ll never have again. My kids won’t get to experience it. It’s all moving so fast and we’re losing the things that made me me.
I don’t want a resurgence. I don’t want things to come back because it’s cool and we all suddenly want to collect VHS tapes again. I want the magic of sitting in my room, watching Kipper The Dog and playing with my toys on a Friday night while my family watches a grown-up movie downstairs. I want connection again. I want those hot summer days with the hum of the air conditioning units and the sounds of kids like me running up and down the street getting into trouble.
Perhaps we’ll never get that back. But I can hope. So, I will.