Looking Back...

As I was walking home last night I passed a young girl "scootering" home from school with her Mum and a baby brother or sister in tow. Her uniform told me she was in Horsted school so at least no older than Junior level and it got me thinking back to my time when I was her age. Life was idyllic, we didn't even have homework then like they do now, life was one long round of playtime and endless fun. No worries or responsibilities, just lots of time out playing in the fresh air and making the most of being a kid. Long holidays that stretched out before us like a lifetime and plenty of them. We'd spend Saturdays at Nan & Grandad's and Sundays out with my other Nan and Mum & Dad. All sorts of special people there to make us feel warm and safe. Life fit for a child just as it should be. Would I want to go back to then if I could? Maybe, sometimes, just for a short while, see those special people again who are no longer here and leave life feeling a little more empty now. Forget for a little while the worries of work, paying bills and the rest of the baggage that we generally carry round as adults. Maybe thats why retirement seems such an attractive place to be? It's kind of a second childhood for grown-ups, time (and hopefully money) to do as we please again, the only downside being older, not necessarily wiser and wondering if our health will still be good enough to allow us to do all the things we put off "till we retire".