Take Me Back

     In 24 hours, I was to run a race, a race I still feel unwelcome from since the amount of speed that is needed and the amount of speed that my legs can carry are not the same. Every race in college has been nerve-wracking. Maybe I get an unnatural amount of butterflies in my stomach, or maybe I just think to much. Either way, I was worried. So, naturally, I wanted to take my mind off of it. It was a Friday night and we had nothing to do. I talked to everyone about having a movie night to calm the unnerving nerves. Every time we have a movie night, I suggest my favorite disney movie, Robin Hood, but no one ever wants to watch it. I always get overruled, although, this time I was persistent and aggressive. We watched it; I was so happy.

     Throughout the movie you could here people saying, "wow it takes me back," or, "dang this I used to love this." A bunch of college kids sitting around a tv watching a cartoon that was made in the 70s. You wouldn't really expect it, but Disney movies are still good. We had one hundred percent enjoyment out of that. It made me so nostalgic. I remember the times when I did my homework in like thirty minutes and then go outside to pretend I was either Aragorn, Robin Hood, or Peter Pan. What happened to the days where we could go outside and actually, honestly 'play'? I see myself growing up through the years and find the answer: it has everything to do with imagination. Looking at past pictures of myself, I can see how I progressed and grew out of my imagination.

     I think there were stages in my life that were defined by where I lived. Now, I don't really remember the apartment my mom and I lived in or the house we moved into with my dad, but I do remember the house we lived in during my elementary years. Good old Granger Trail Rd in Fort Worth, Texas. That was the place where I would pretend for hours upon hours I was out on the battlefield fighting for my castle or out in the forest stealing from Prince John or pranking Captain Hook. All were fun. Then we had to moved to Las Vegas to live with my grandmother. I did the same thing except I added captain Jack Sparrow to the list. Running through the house my grandmother owned and killing the Kraken. After that we ended up in an apartment in Euless, Texas. I moved on to only playing with my Lord of the Rings action figures or riding my scooter wherever I damn well pleased inside the complex. I had some sick 3 cm jumps in that time. Soon, after moving into that apartment, we got a place back in Keller, Texas. That was from the beginning of 5th grade to the end of 10th grade. I actually remember early on trying to play outside and it ending up not being fun to me anymore. I was inside my video game phase in this Keller house. Soon enough, I came into a guitar playing phase, where that would be what I did all day. Finally, we moved to Farmington, Maine. I dropped the guitar and stopped playing as many video games. What I did for fun was goofing around with my friends. I had always hung out with my friends, but not as much as I did when I moved to Farmington. Then, after graduating, I got into a grunge phase where I was super into rap and skateboarding. That lasted until about a month ago. Now, freshman in college at the University of Maine, I just want to do anything except homework.

     I was required to own a blog my senior year for AP Lit. I wrote a post about deciding which college I wanted to go to. I said, "I've gone from wanting to be Robin Hood to being an architect to wanting to be a physical therapist. This choice is freaking hard, and the pressure is on. The constant questions from my parents and all the graduating situations and this and that and more of this. Everything leads up to this one choice. I just wish being Robin Hood was still an option." So why does Robin Hood still fit in my changed self? Because I'm still that little kid who pretended to steal from Prince John. WE are still the little Robin Hood that we used to be.