Sweet Spot

There is a fleeting, but magical sweet spot in our youth. That wonderful, carefree period when we are old enough to wring every bit of adventure from our day without looking back, but young enough not have a single burden on our minds about what the future may hold. We are old enough to have plenty of freedom and young enough not to be shackled with any lasting regrets of should've, would've, could've. It is that blessed time when we can be soldiers one moment and pirates or astronauts the next. Our only limitation is the far-reaching bounds of our own ever-fertile imaginations.

The other night I sat outside on my porch after dinner. I still had a couple of hours of daylight and there was a nice cool breeze wafting about that made it just a perfect time to relax with my book. It was then that my peace was interrupted by squeals of delight coming from just over the fence in the neighbor's yard. I placed my bookmark between the pages, closed my eyes, and just listened to that wonderful make believe. No harsh words, no conflict, no reminder of all of the troubles of the world. Just kids living in that wonderful sweet spot of unaffected innocence. After too short a time for me, their mom called them inside to start to get ready for bed time. The spell was broken and I had to come back to my own reality. That's O.K., my own memories of that time for me were rekindled with fondness.