My childhood moment

Try to imagine a scene in which there is a soft comfortable bed outside on a marvelous day. It is at the center of open grassland and no one is near this area for miles. There are two colors that illuminate the scenery : the bright blue of the sky and the deep green of the grass. Its incredibly peaceful and soothing. As a matter of fact, the only sound existing is the faint whisper of the breeze. While lying on the bed undisturbed, all the worries and problems in the world dissolve. Everything is perfect.

I once had a moment in which I felt absolutely relaxed and carefree. It was the very first summer in America and I was barely five years old. For that reason, it was the summer between kindergarten and first grade. I had unquestionably nothing to do since I was too young to do any necessary chores around the apartment. With nothing on my hand, I decided to set up a hammock in the balcony.

I did not know where it was so I asked my mother, “Mom, where did you place the hammock that Dad brought home?”

She answered, “It’s in the storage room. Ask your brother to help you.”

As my mom suggested, I went to ask one of my brothers. He was pretty angry since I interrupted him while he was talking to his friend on the phone.

“Long, you are as stupid as a donkey or maybe even more stupid!” he scolded me. However, even though he was being mean for no specific reason, I did not feel a bit offended. Brothers are like that, I supposed. Once I got on, my mind went completely blank and I was not thinking about anything else.

The climate outside made my balcony felt somewhat like a paradise. It was warm, yet, once in a while, a cool breeze would blow by. I stared up at the sky and hoped that I was able to visualize figures from the clouds. However, the sky was too clear and only had tiny blotches of white scattered about. It looked as though somebody punctuated the sky in various areas. I had one of my arms hanging down and was long enough to hardly touch the floor. The cement felt cool as my knuckles gently scraped against it again and again as the hammock continue to swing lightly.

While lying there, I could only wonder if my life would be like this when I was older. I wanted to lay on this hammock on this day forever. I wished that I could have stopped time and stay frozen in this place. I know that this could not and would not be true when I was older. Since I was only five, my parents did not expect me to do any hard work or any important work. I was a prince and had my servants doing everything for me.

To everyone else in the world, especially adults, they would be dying to have a moment like this to take a break from their stressful life. They would probably think that a moment like this would be the perfect opportunity for them to relax as much as they could and clear their minds. Even though I was not an adult yet, I felt the same way. Everything was truly perfect, and I could not have thought about anything else that would make this moment even better.

Somehow, at that moment, I did not realize how carefree my life was. I should have taken that chance to enjoy my carefree moment and relax the most that I could. I was too young to actually think about my future so I was not aware of the stress that would come. When that time in my life arrives, I would really need a moment like the one I experienced to take a break. I was also not aware that I might not have the time to take a break.

Every single person on this planet probably wanted to experience a moment like this at least once in his or her life. Everybody probably had a stressful moment and wanted to escape it all. However, we can only live these moments in our memory. All of us almost certainly experienced carefree moments like this when we were young. Yet, since we were so young, we did not appreciate all these opportunities to enjoy ourselves. As time flashes by in front of our eyes, we become aware of the short time we have each day and as we grow older, time become shorter. Sometimes, we feel regretful because we did not make the most of the excess time that we had when we were little. Many times, we wish that we could be able to have as much time as we did, but wishing will not make dreams come true. Now, we can only reminisce and think about the wonderful life that we once had.

Long Nguyen
Grade 8
November, 2002