T3/TSwift

It’s borderline ridiculous how sentimental I am. That’s why I’m a pack-rat (not a hoarder). I keep anything that has some memory attached to it. Not lame memories like “oh someone gave this to me on a tuesday” or something along that line. There is a legitimate reason behind why I keep things. Memories are my favorite. While I may not be able to remember the name of somebody I met 10 minutes ago, I can remember random things from years ago. In case you were wondering what frequency the mariachi radio station is that my grampa listens to, it’s 103.5 FM. Or least that’s what it was six years ago. I haven’t checked since then. 

My mother sent Toy Story 3 today, so I promise that memory/sentimental/hoarding, I mean pack-rat tendency, is a relevant topic. Anyways, Robert and I went to T3 opening day (not in 3D because it’s lame). Let me just tell you, I cried. I can think of three movies that have made me do that... Marley & Me (luckily I watched it alone at midnight because it was definitely an ugly cry), Friday Night Lights (Yes, weird I know. I can’t really explain this one), and Fox and the Hound (I was four and I still haven’t watched it since). Now it didn’t just get me at the end (if this didn’t happen to you, then you must have had a bad childhood or some traumatic experience that caused you to have no emotions and I’m terribly sorry about that), but also at the beginning. The part where it’s showing video of Andy playing as a kid literally brought hundreds of my own memories flooding into my head at once. I’m fully aware that this should have made me happy, and trust me I was very happy. The problem is that Andy was going to college, and I was to. It was like my childhood was ending, and that is not ok with me.

I won’t list all my childhood memories because there’s too many and I’d spend the next few hours reminiscing. One thing they all had in common though was imagination. Side note: I had an imaginary husband named Geppetto and our children were Doreen and Henry. Sometimes they would join my family at the table for dinner and I’d make them their own servings. I was also obsessed with horses when I was younger, but we didn’t exactly have the room for one in our backyard. Side note: my car fund was originally a horse fund. So what was I going to do about my horse dilemma? I’d just pretend that I had one. Better than that, I could have two or three imaginary horses. 

  

Isn't he cute?

Think back to your imaginary friends and to what games you used to play with your toys. There was absolutely no doubt in your mind that those things were real. You could see them and hear their voices and you could play for hours without ever getting bored. At what point did we realize that they weren’t real? That our toys were just toys, and they didn’t come to life when we left the room? That our pretend horses weren’t going to cut it anymore, so we needed to start saving our quarters for a real one? When did we begin to feel bored and needed someone else to make up games for us to play? I don’t know the answer, but if I find out, I’ll go back to that point and convince my younger self that the things I imagine are real. I’ll tell myself, “Self, don’t ever stop serving your husband and kids dinner, or they’ll get hungry. Let your horses out of their stalls every day and brush them afterwards so they’ll look clean and healthy. Oh, and don’t ever stop believing in Santa.”

Imagination makes life so much better

That brings me to this song Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift. Side note: I like Taylor Swift. She has my respect for writing her own lyrics and music. Also for not punching Kanye West right in his big mouth. Originally I was just going to talk about how I don’t want to grow up. It’s true. I don’t want to have to get a job and pay taxes and find somewhere to live and have to worry about insurance. Those things sound boring and rather stressful, so I’d rather avoid them for as long as possible. Unfortunately these things are starting to slowly creep into my life. I don’t doubt my ability to handle these issues, I just don’t want to have to deal with them because that will mean I’m getting older, therefore I won’t be a kid anymore. Hence why T3 made me feel like my childhood was ending. When you were younger life was so much easier. I often wish that I was four again so I could play all day and not have a care in the world. As I was writing about imagination, I realized something... it’s possible for me to grow up and do things that adults do, but that doesn’t mean I have to grow out of my imagination. Maybe if I can somehow recapture my childhood imagination, I can enjoy life more and not be as stressed as everyone else. So I’m going to go try and find out how to get back to the state of mind where I believed in all the ideas I came up with, and had no doubt in my mind that they were real.