7.48331477

I have never jumped in a puddle, never climbed a tree, never swung on a swing.

I spend my Friday night not under lights, but in a dolly chair until my tutor engrains algebra into me. 

In kindergarten I tested genius level intelligence. 

A genius doesn't get to play in puddles, or know how to blow bubbles, or how to climb a tree tall like Everest. 

Instead, they memorize flashcards, vocabulary words, spend hours on IXL, and know what the square root of 56 is by age three. 

I graduate in three years 

In three years; and I have never jumped in a puddle, not blown a single bubble, haven't climbed one tree. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the education given to me, but there are things schools don't teach you. 

Like how to be a kid, that these are the best days of your lives, that as important as good grades are;  that being a kid is just as important!

That blowing bubbles and climbing trees and jumping in puddles are the things you'll remember!!

Not the preamble, or the quadrratic formula, or what the 38th parallel actually is. 

You'll remember the laughs that feel like summer sunshine on skin and the infatuating instances in infancy. 

All the pacid puddles you've played in, all the nauseatig swings you've swung on. 

Each and every bubble you've blown.

I graduate in three years, and my childhood memories are a map that I can't navigate because all I can remember is that

the square root of 56 is 7.48331477.