When I was 21
I was a cute, bubbly, happy little guy. I played with my cookie monster doll, liked to watch television with my sister, and wanted to slide down the big “banana slide” outside our apartment. I could see it, but I wasn’t big enough to go down that amazingly glossy yellow cement monster.
When I was 22
I was still cute, but now I had the vocabulary of a 12 year old, and read at a Grade 8 level, despite the fact I was in Junior Kindergarten. I still liked watching television with my sister, but now I liked reading Mordecai Richler’s book even more.
When I was 23
I was cute, kind of, like all 8 year olds are, but I was also too big to want to be called cute. I read The Lord of the Rings, I moved back to Toronto from the interior of British Columbia, and I found myself with a head full of thoughts and a heart full of feelings that I didn’t always understand. The first death of someone I knew occurred, and led me down many strange roads in my mind.
When I was 24
I wasn’t cute, by many standards. By some standards, some girls found me attractive. I had long hair (which was fashionable then) and played a mean guitar, mean piano, mean bass, and smoked too much dope. I had friends that I still have, and friends that I’ve lost since. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I was following paths that others were suggesting to me because I was too lost to know where I wanted to go. Teachers fretted. My parents fretted. I idled.
Today I am 25
Not cute any more. Early mid-life pudge setting in, but I’ve started a rigorous advance on that front. And life is amazing. I have kids, one of them is 23. He likes the Lord of the Rings too, though only the movie, not the book. I have a child who loves to play piano, and another who loves to draw. I am still idling, but now out of habit, not for any other reason. I’m about to step into gear though. I had a nice talk with my dad last night about the future, and he really supports the ideas I have.
When I am 26
It’ll be time to retire. I’ll be old and grey and happy. I’ll have grandkids. I’ll have a whole life full of memories, trials and triumphs. It’ll be cool. Maybe I’ll be cute again.