by Elizabeth Campbell

Created on: October 03, 2008

Kindergarten is the prologue to the book of our life, our first baby steps to a long journey, which contains winding paths, twists and turns, bumps and dead ends a-like. An endless road breaking and branching out into various different directions, with a variety of outcomes ... who can ever know how it will end up?

Last week, walking into a kindergarten class, was like taking a step back into my past. It was like pulling out a long forgotten picture book. All the photographs old, worn, ripped faded, and a tad hazy; Accumulated with the dust of my passing years. It brought back memories of a past I've nearly forgotten completely, a time where things were a lot simpler, myself included, a bit more oblivious ... and the world so much bigger.

Talking to a kindergartner was like walking in his shoes for a short ten to fifteen minutes. Or moreso, picking up my long abandoned shoes out of that childhood sandbox, and taking a quick stroll down memory lane, past the monkey bars, and tire swing I used to play on.

Pondering ... I realized we really learn everything we need to right here. We learned the names of the colors of the world we live in, the shapes of basic everyday things, letters, words, and the sounds and meanings behind it all.

We developed frienships, close, unbreakable bonds. We learned to dream, and we started to think of what we want to be when we grow up. Even if our future dreams were a tad unrealistic, like wanting to be a bird, a dinosaur, or even a Power Ranger, they were dreams, none-the-less, a beginning.

We looked up to people, not only due to our shortness, but also because we couldn't wait to grow up, and be like them ... or at least a shadow containing some resemblances. We would look up to various characters: parents, teachers, bigger kids and even our own best friends.

Here, we indulge distasteful, as well as tasteful snacks. Along with a short nap, which we tend to not look forward to, submitting to sit still and be still, for a prolonged period of time, tended to be a close to impossible task for us.

We absorbed ourselves in cartoons ... The Smurfs, Underdog, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and other various shows. Some of us still watch these shows today.

It's amazing, within fifteen minutes, how much you can learn, think about, and remember. I got to see what I used to be and where I came from. I realized, everything I would really ever need to know took place right there in that classroom and on that playground. It's a shame that that period in my life was so short, and that we had to put away the old toys and leave the playground so soon.

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