Gone, Gone. Thank you.

“I wish there was a way to tell you’re in the good old days

Before you left them”

That's how I felt once I realized I wasn’t a kid anymore.

Gone were the days of making mud pies in the front yard

Of my Maw Maw’s house with my cousins

Gone were the days of spending all day playing WWE in the Garage

Using the fan to cool off the Xbox rather than ourselves

Gone were the days of all the kids getting together at Great Granny’s in the back room

And playing “Batman and Robin”

I remember a large tree that had been growing in my Maw Maw’s front yard for about 40

Years.

But its roots were uprooting the concrete and the branches were tearing up the roof

So she had it cut down.

That tree that provided shade for the countless hours under the hot sun

While we spent those summer month in the country of East Texas.

No longer can I hid in crowds, claiming to be the shy kid who’d rather

Listen than talk. In order to achieve my dreams I’m going to have to become

A person capable of leading large teams. The Amari from childhood

Would’ve hid from that responsibility, but now

I anticipate it.

I spend countless hours reminiscing on the days of my childhood

Where my biggest problems were trying to get enough holes at golf

So I could continue playing on the Wii.

Trying to beat my sister in Michael Jackson: The Experience so I could

Keep my highscores

I think on how my brother is now nine years old but I can still

Remember bringing him home from the hospital.

While the cutting of the tree was the moment I realized I wasn't a kid anymore

There was always things that would inch me closer and closer to that conclusion

The tree is gone and my childhood is gone

But I’m not sad. I thank that tree for all the fun I had with it and now its time.

It’s time to look forwards and embrace the future.