Don't Blink by Kenny Chesney

I remember when I was younger, people always said, "Enjoy being a kid, it won't last forever." It's only recently that I've realized how true this really is. I feel old because I can go back and remember what it was like to be 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and so on and so forth you get my point. This week as I went on the mission trip and watched all these kids running around, I realized that being a kid is one of the shortest periods of your life. And some of the kids at our mission sites have had to miss out on the wonderful experiance of being young and just acting like it. So many of the little kids I would ask how old they were and they would say five. Everytime I would stop dead in my tracks. These kids were using the same words as you and me and acted so amture it was almost scary. When we brought out the games they looked timid! They looked SCARED to play around and have fun. I remember being five years old and drawing with crayons everyday and drinking grape juice and blowing bubbles and running around playing freeze tag and duck duck goose.I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have had to miss out on those experiances. I was always told when I was younger that I would have to grow up eventually so to enjoy being a kid. I never understood what they meant. But they were right. When you get older, you have a greater responsibility in life, you have to take care of yourself and your family. Some of the kids I saw, are only five years old and already were doing that. So how is it fair that we get to enjoy being a kid when they don't? You really aren't a kid forever, and while I am 15 years old and still act like I'm 9, (yes Aubrey, this is what you would call acting your shoe size) I still have responcibilities and jobs and things that need to be done. I don't always have time to go outside and play red light green light, or to sit in the sun and blow bubbles. So when exactly does the change occur? When do you cross over from being a kid and turn into an adult? Is it when you get your first job? When you begin paying bills? Is it an age thing? Does it happen when you turn 18? Or 21? Some may call it a maturity thing, but I disagree. Like I said, I am 15 and still act like I'm 9, but I don't see that as a bad thing. I think people get older and still act like kids because they begin to truly realize what growing up means. They realize that adulthood has snuck up on them and they didn't have time for the last memories of being a kid. I know that's the way I am. I've realized that I have to grow up eventually, so I'm going to enjoy the heck out of whatever childhood ive got left.So maybe I am immature. But if you don't understand why, just go visit a mission camp or somwhere like it. Because no words that I have already said will even come close to explaining half of what it's like to lose your childhood so early like that mission camp did. I would advise everyone to go on at least one mission trip in their lifetime. It doesn't have to be out of the country, or to Africa. I wnet to a city in Alabama. But it can really open your eyes to things that you may not even realize are right behind your backyard fence. A thought to remember, "Growing old is mandatory...growing up is optional."