childish things

being a kid came with it's own set of perks. the things i miss most about being a child are:

• my lunch box.

i had this stamped tin lunchbox from Disney World. precious lunch treats fit so neatly inside. i made my own sandwiches starting in Grade 5. stacked high like dagwoods with the tomato kept separate until noon to prevent soggy bread.


• summer camp.

being sent away for a week of frolicking is the kid equivalent of a cruise - the food just isn't as good. mandatory CPR training aside it was a blissful whirlwind of games, campfires, crafts, swimming and an intense day long capture the flag tournament. i even had spending money to could buy a Big Turk bar at the tuck shop every day!


• comfort food.

oblivious to trans fats, polyunsaturated oils or cholesterol i devoured the comfort foods of my childhood with gusto. macaroni & cheese with tomato, french onion soup, fried danish (i blame my dad), scalloped potatoes, grilled cheese.....



• flashlights.

my sister and I could get hours of entertainment out of a flashlight. we'd wave it back and forth really fast to produce a "strobe light" effect and each take turns dancing, jumping around and just making a spectacle of ourselves.


• the pink velour hoodie.

a daylong hug packaged in pink, white and burgundy stripes. so soft and comfortable was that shirt that we had to be forcibly separated.

crusty

I haven't been my usual "peppy self" in a while. I've no longer got a perma-grin glued on. People (apparently) are starting to talk. I think the old me was more Julie the cruise director meets Vegas showgirl meets Pollyannaish motivational speaker. Not pretty. Crusty, by comparison, is great.

Especially if it's the french bread kinda crusty.

quotesmosis

Conversation at a recent pool party potluck quickly degraded to pop-culture references and tv quotes. Folks who hadn't watched Napoleon Dynamite were able to pick up on vague references to llamas and one-sided ponytails while I was able to navigate the Simpsons lexicon without having seen a show in 7 years. In describing this phenomenon, and misunderstanding what Paul Gross was saying from across the coffee table we came up with a word for this phenomenon: Quotesmosis.