This may be a little..." niche" as the young kids say, and niche only to my own experiences. I hope that, though you may not understand every reference, you can feel the underlying notions and the plea from me to never forget the little moments, though so seemingly insignificant in the heat of it, that will become those amazing days. Those good old days.

isn't it crazy

that from now on, you are the youngest you'll ever be

in this second moment. Count to three.

isn't it wild

that sometimes for awhile

you forget what it's like to be a child

to learn, to ask why, to try to touch the sky

fly high

so do you remember the smell of your kindergarten classroom

the perfume your teacher wore

taught you never to keep score

unless its guessing jellybeans in a jar

do you remember when you got so many hugs

and your face did that squish smoosh into a funny land

called a soft stomach

but now it's rumbling, your favorite time

the day is almost done

do you remember when you danced with green clouds

this one's for you

we're still growing up, not at the top

but when you're down there

it doesn't seem so far

do you remember when you

counted the rainforests from the confines of a fourth-grade room

with carte blanc in your back pocket

never used.

that was never fair anyway.

remember the howling wind

that knocked over trees and

fell them to their knees

safe, curled in a hallway

safe, so let's stay

remember when you wanted to

join the ballet for a day

for many moons, twenty seventeen

until you la-di-daed across that stage

when you finally did

Remember the time you

dressed up in a silver gown

and looked like a baked potato

or a burrito at best

and walked across that stage

as the fireworks lit up the black

and illuminated the paper in your hand

that granted you with a ticket

out of town, to a place with more paper

to one day receive

do you know

that these moments

and this very moment

are the elusive

good old days?