I spent the best years of my life alongside my best friend; there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that life would forever be like these sweet summers. My time was filled with lengthy quests that took me through the seven seas, plane trips across every continent, and near-death experiences that were engraved into my memory.

Of course, this was me living with my head in the clouds—my imagination was bigger than the neighborhood that my adventures were restricted to. But the most memorable moments from my childhood were the ones spent fighting crime side-by-side with my forever friend; we sought out mythical beasts, escaped from a sinking cruise ship, and even were sent by NASA to the unknown regions of space. We experienced every major but also minor detail together. I wouldn’t trade anything for those memories fabricated in the days of 2012.

When we were younger, our favorite shows to watch were cartoons, and to this day, watching any cartoon floods my brain with serotonin as I am reminded of the naive days of my childhood. Some of our favorites were Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, and anything by Disney; every day we would base our daring expeditions off of the cartoons that we held so near and dear to our hearts. We created a game around Scooby-Doo and how the Mystery Gang would go on missions chasing monsters.

In my backyard, there is a large brush filled with what seemed like every plant you could ever imagine—it was like Mother Nature left the perfect hiding spot that only her and I knew about. Our secret spot. Naturally, my forever friend and I shared everything together, and my secret hiding spot was no exception to our unspoken promise to be transparent with our secrets. I eventually introduced my forever friend to the unseen hiding spot, and it became mine, hers, and Mother Nature’s. 

Eventually, this spot was used time and time again while we played many different games, but it also was used as a place of solitude to the reality that lingered at the door of our imaginations—forever to be locked outside.

This memory of the brush may seem insignificant, and maybe it is, but it symbolized my innocence and childhood being secured from the real world that I eventually was forced to grow into.

We all grow up at one time or another. Peter Pan once said, “And even though you want to, just try to never grow up.”

But never is an awfully long time.