Childhood

Often, our oldest daughter Aliyah loves to hear details of Josh's & my childhood. The things we did, the toys we liked, what our room may have been like etc... Since we have talked about this several times lately she often brings up things particularly about Josh's childhood that she wonders about.

Today at lunch, the subject came up again and it almost brought tears to my eyes picturing this little boy who didn't really have much. We learned that he had one bicycle his entire life and he got it at age 9. He didn't have a swingset, and couldn't really recall any major toys that he had aside from GI Joe's, Transformers, & Star Wars figures. Of course, he doesn't have anything now from his childhood either. I asked him what he did all day and the answer was that they played baseball or some made-up games with a ball pretty much all day long. I asked if they had a pool or sprinkler. No pool and yes a sprinkler--not a kid one though. He said it was one of those "impact sprinklers". The kid that kind of ticks as it goes around--didn't sound like fun to me.

As we learn more about his childhood we are amazed at the seemingly simplistic things he hasn't ever done until recently. If we haven't done it yet, it is on that "things we gotta do so Josh can experience them kind of list". Let's see, he flew a kite for the first time at age 30 with our kids, he tried the slip n' slide a couple of weeks ago etc... I found out the other day that he never got a treat from the ice cream man either (although the ice cream man can be kind of creepy I think).

I know he isn't making this stuff up because when we got married, all I remember him having was his grandpa's Bible, some clothes, and some things I had given him while we were dating. There definitely wasn't any furniture and nothing big as it all fit easily into the trunk of his little car.

Our goal is to not only teach our children that there are always others that have way less than them, but to teach them to share and give of what they do have. Our goal for Josh is to help him experience those "childhood memories" with us =). You can see Josh enjoying one of those "childhood memories" on the slip n' slide. Don't forget to love your little ones--they grow up way too fast, and make some fun memories together!!