Being Young Again

Being Young Again!!!

By: Carrie Hulce

Recently I started to baby-sit a little 16 month old boy. Forgetting how energetic they could be. Wow, let me tell you I didn’t think I would be able to keep up with him. My own children are now teenagers so this experience seems new to me some how.

It amazed me how much we forget, or how much we don’t think about our own childhood.

I tried to recall a memory, one from my childhood, how old was I in the memory. What was the memory about? Was it a good memory or a bad memory? Was it a memory involving family?

Well, to answer my own questions, I was 3, I was in the hospital, I had to have my tonsils taken out, and my parents had come to the hospital to visit me. I was given a brown teddy bear, one I still have actually. My father was happy; he got to carry me out of the hospital to go home.

Oh, to be young again. The cool thing is, being a writer, we can do that. We can be any age we want. We have to dig deep inside of ourselves to find that 2 year-old running around cleaning out the pots and pans cabinet, or how about being 5 and learning how to ride a bike, feeling the nervous tummy, the excitement of mommy or daddy letting go of the bike.

We as writers have so many advantages, but, there are disadvantages too, to bring this age alive, we also need to bring out the sensory words, tastes, sounds, smells, etc. We have to bring that alive for our readers, it can be a challenge, but, one that is well worth having. It is so exciting to be able to bring these young people back to life, oh to be young again, to feel the wind in your hair as you are racing down a hill on your bike, winning the touch down in a football game, slipping on some ice as you were throwing a snow ball at your best friend. The rug burn you received after rough housing on the floor with your dad. The sting that followed after you got the burn.

There is so much we can describe for our readers so they can feel young again as well, so if you are writing about a young child, dig deep inside yourself, be young again. I am sure you too will find what it was like to be 5 on a bike.

Happy Writing!