The Childhood I Almost Forgot
What would you do if you met the younger version of yourself? Would you try to correct your mistakes before they happened? Would you try to protect yourself from the hurts, the heartbreaks, and the quiet betrayals you are still trying to heal from? I once had a dream where I came face-to-face with my five year old self. It was from a time when life was still soft. When we were just three children and the fourth was still on the way. A time before we knew how quickly things could change. In that dream, I existed in two timelines at once. I was standing in my present while somehow walking inside my past. She looked up at me with wide, curious eyes. The kind of eyes that believed in everything. My eyes. Big, bright, and unafraid. There was admiration in her gaze. The innocent kind children give adults they believe have life all figured out. I looked back at her with a tenderness that surprised me. The kind of tenderness a mother has for her child. For a moment, I for...