And I miss it.

I sit here, thinking back to when I was a child. I didn’t have to worry about a thing like, money, popularity, work etc. I would do ANYTHING to go back to when I was a child. I had the best childhood growing up.

Family holidays at the start of every year. We stayed in flash hotels and made friends with other kids every where we went. We would always do a trip to a theme park for a whole day, enjoying rides and eating amazing food. Our parents would take us to big shopping malls that were filled with clothes, food and toy shops. There wasn’t a year that we didn’t go and I miss it.

Playing cricket every Saturday with most of the community, my sisters, mother and father at the ovals. When we were finished playing cricket, the whole community would go back to our small home town pub and enjoy water play, icy poles, chips and fizzy drink. Every Saturday we did this and I miss it.

Every couple of months our small hometown pub would put on a family day, where all families could come down to the pub. There was face painting, donkey rides, Harley rides, sausage sizzle and more. Our parents made sure to take us every time and I miss it.

Friends parties every time we were invited to one. There was jumping castles, lots of party food, games, Pinata’s and more. And when it was time to leave we always got sent home with a lollie bag. It was good fun and I miss it.

Markets every second weekend, where our parents friend would take us down and buy us anything and everything. There was always lucky dips, puppies, snow cones and more. There wasn’t a time where we didn’t go and I miss it.

Monster island at the town pool. A big jumping castle obstacle course, floating on top of the water. I remember every time it came to town, our mother would take us to the pool. We would attempt the monster island, eat potato scallops and drink fizzy drinks. It was so much fun and I miss it.

Christmas spent with my mothers side of the family every year. We would go swimming in their big in ground pool and eat so much lunch that we could hardly move. We had water play and water slides. Ever Christmas was special and I miss it.

New years spent with my fathers side of the family. We would eat cob loafs, swim in the pool and sit in a big circle, playing the guitar and singing songs together. And every year at 12am when the new year was here we would hold each other in a big circle singing and then holding, kissing and wishing everyone a happy new year. It was great and I miss it.

And now I’m all grown up with my own family but I miss being a kid and I always will. What saddens me the most is that our hometown barely does any of this anymore and I won’t be able to give my kids the fun that I always had growing up.