I’ve spent the past few weeks with this vague sense of nostalgia in the back of my mind for a time when things were simpler. I don’t know if it ever existed though – was there ever a time when we were just young and carefree? Help me out, my old friends (Hey Bobby!). Remind me.
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Simpler Times
michael
aly hawkins 9:14 am on 4 December 2009 Permalink
So far as I remember, no time in my life seemed simple or carefree when it was happening. Only in retrospect was it clear that, compared to the time that came after, each phase was a (relative) walk in the park.
I mean to encourage you, but I may have just made it worse.
Bobby 9:32 am on 4 December 2009 Permalink
you calling me old?
michael lee 1:46 pm on 4 December 2009 Permalink
So old.
sharolyn 3:03 pm on 4 December 2009 Permalink
I’ve thought about this, and I don’t think so.
Memory is rehearsed, so we either practice remembering things as better than they were, as worse than they were, or accurately. Which is all up to interpretation. But if I am honest with myself in day-to-day events, the inclination is to pretend things used to be easier, regardless of whether or not they really were.
It sounds like what you are desiring is to feel young and carefree now, and so that it my hope for you, my friend. Just think, in 15 years you might be nostalgic for today!
corey 8:28 am on 5 December 2009 Permalink
Aly & Shar- great thoughts.
I think of how wrapped up jr high schools kids get in their shoes and jeans and how wrapped up high school kids get in their friends and budding romances. There will always be the crisis de jour, no matter the age, I suppose.
But I also like to think that for every month that we get closer to more responsibility and scarier life, we’re also blessed with more collected rewards (victories) and more freedom- not financially, but with regard to having more wisdom to see the field clearly when making decisions.
Chad 10:32 pm on 7 December 2009 Permalink
I, for one, only pine for some parts of my old life.
I tell you what I would like… is a do-over. I’d like for someone to drop me off in my 15 year old body, and let me have a go at my 20s. I wouldn’t change the core things (Erica, Ella, Zion) but I’d have some fun with fixing the periphery.
june 11:24 am on 8 December 2009 Permalink
My only “simpler times” were in the womb. :) That said, I enjoy life more every year and so, in a sense, it is more “simple” now than ever. (One perk to angst and tragedy in early years I suppose.) I guess it’s what Corey said…even though things are more complex than ever, more years under the belt do help. The only “carefree” thing I miss from my youth is a speedy metabolism.
Leonard 3:24 pm on 8 December 2009 Permalink
I am a couple years older that most of you and I have come to believe that times are not meant to be simple or care free. We have something to do in this world. My life becomes more complicated when I confuse what God wants done and what I want done or when I am a tool to other people.
drhill 6:57 pm on 8 December 2009 Permalink
I believe when Christ talked about becoming like children he meant just this, living a simpler life. I know I complicate, deviate, sin, confuse and generally abscond from God against my better judgment…but when I see how Christ lived, absolutely single minded, and more or less resolute in his focus…knowing His heavenly Father would never fail Him…wouldn’t that be simple? Having said that – I know playing as a child on the grass with my Tonka truck was simpler than having a mortgage and doing taxes. It was simpler – but not necessarily better.
Zack 10:20 am on 9 December 2009 Permalink
2009, my 32nd year of life – has been my best year. My “good ol’ days”. I’m sure of this.