An Ode to My Childhood

Happiness is simple It’s the song of coyotes howling through a star filled atmosphere The taste of root beer floats leaving fluttering butterflies in my stomach It’s lying down underneath the willow tree with my brothers, Talking about topics that 5 year old Lily thought were “deep” “What if gravity were to just switch on us, Wesley?” “We’d float to space like lost balloons… And suffocate… And DIE!” Happiness is the chime at which my brother Jeremy’s laugh rang And 5 year old me Scooching towards the willow tree Planning for an escape route If gravity were to suddenly switch Happiness is simple It’s the drive home from my place of serenity Jamming out to the Bee Gees and Michael Jackson with my brothers It’s laughing in the back As we squish each other with every turn the mountain takes It’s me and my brothers arguing over which ninja turtle is the best And my grandma turning the music full blast so instead of us screaming in her ears Rod Stewart was Happiness is kissing my Grammy goodbye Reminiscing on how much fun we just had Until the next time Happiness is simple It's KFC's famous bowls and mac and cheese And day trips to Lake Tahoe The sand feeling like burning coals as we race each other to the water Happiness is building sandcastle cities and playing Godzilla It's 6 year old Lily complaining to her brothers “I can't be Mothra! Mothra’s a moth... AND BUGS ARE GROSS!” Happiness is the drive home from the lake With sand nestled between our toes It's me and my brothers calling Dibs on first shower And somehow… even though I called Dibs…. Since I'm the youngest I always was last Happiness is simple It's the sound of spongebob's laugh And… it's the sound of my Grammy kicking us out of the house Because we spent 30 minutes rewinding the tv Just to drive her crazy with his laugh Happiness is bedtime It's being the last one to get tucked in It's Grammy shoving the covers under my legs And it's 7 year old me thinking The tighter I'm tucked in, the harder monsters will have to try to get me It's giving Grammy a hug and screaming “LOCKDOWN!” and her trying to fight her way from my grasp by tickling me I ALWAYS lost at Lockdown Happiness is Grammy's kisses Whether they are kisses goodnight or kisses goodbye Happiness is simple It's Roald Dahl books and phone calls It's 8 year old Lily being too shy and insecure to make friends So every recess she'd race down to the library It's rummaging through all the books and deciding which ones are good enough to read my Grammy over the phone while I'm away from her Happiness is the walk home from school It's the circus act of balancing 10 books in my arms And wondering which book am I going to read her first Happiness is my Tiffany butterfly lamp It's nestling up in a blanket Turning my lamp on And calling my Grammy to read her my miniature library of books It's me stumbling on my words And asking her to grab a pen and paper so I can spell the word out for her and she can pronounce it Happiness is feeling so close no matter the distance Happiness is simple It's indoor pools and McDonald's ice cream It's club penguin subscriptions and Harry Potter computer games It's yelling Yahtzee! At the top of our lungs It's family reunions and big tents set up in the backyard Happiness is the tv show Wipeout and Drake and Josh It's hunting for rabbits and lizards It's fighting with my Grammy “No! I don't need sunscreen!” It's Razor Scooters and Flashlight tag Cops and robbers and lightsaber fights Happiness is me and my brothers mooning each other Happiness is looking back at all these memories Wanting them back Wanting more But... Happiness is not more Happiness is so much more than more Happiness is having and realizing the wealth of less An ode to my childhood memories Thank you for reminding me Happiness is simple