Illustration Copyright © 2010 Jean Burman
This cartoon was so much fun to do. It brought back a truckload of childhood memories… of me and my little brother playing matchbox cars in the dirt in exchange for playing Barbie dolls and dress ups. It was a tradeoff brought on by my mother promising me a little sister… and delivering a little brother instead. We eventually settled it amicably enough… and went on to become great playmates and the best of friends!
[B if you're reading this you can kill me later]
Ahhhh…
LIFE
Where on earth would we be without it?
[besides not here… I mean] *wink*
It turns out that what our parents told us… [and we never listened to at all] was true all along…
“Life is short” they said
But back then we couldn’t wait to be all grown up.
As kids we dreamed of having bedtime rights… power over our dinnertime vegetables… and freedom from ever having to eat anything either orange or brown and/or green ever again. We wanted to be big people and we wanted it now!
Remember how long those first 10 years took to go by?
Childhood went on for-ever!
[And here was me thinking that time was supposed to fly when you’re having fun]
But no matter which way you look at it… and despite how magical we might now remember those years to have been… all we really wanted back then was to be all grown up and just like them.
My mother used to always say “stop wishing your life away!”
[I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about - grin]
We kids played dress ups. We traipsed around our imaginary world in our mother’s high-heeled shoes and our father’s old shirts. We played house. We cooked imaginary dinner… we made tea… and went off to imaginary work. We couldn’t wait to grow up!
In our little world it was we who had the last say… just like the big people who really held sway in our lives… and were forever telling us when it was time for bed… and what would happen to us if we didn’t eat our peas!
The teenage years went by a little bit faster [but not much]… and were fraught with an awkwardness that most of us would probably now much rather forget.
At best they were just a means to an end that would bring us one more inconvenient step closer to our desired ideal of being grown up… independent… and magnificent… [IF we deigned to get with the program and hung in there long enough!]
And yes… I did say magnificent [because back then we not only thought it was entirely possible to become our true magnificent selves… we absolutely knew it was only a matter of time before we automatically would!]
When was it [I wonder] that we stopped thinking we could be magnificent?
Hold that thought.
You’ll need it later.
For most people the years after that really begin to wind out. We are now so busy getting on with our new “grown up” life… that we very soon forget to notice that time is literally disappearing before our very eyes… along with our well intentioned dreams… our hopes… and our precisely laid out plans!
From here on in… the daily living of “the necessary life” begins to suck the life right out of the living of it [which incidentally gives real clout to the old adage… “the hurrier I go the behinder I get!”]
For most people the wake up call comes in the midst of life… at a time when our seemingly insurmountable responsibilities and endless challenges reach an all time high. We realise as if for the first time that we have been living our life on an ever faster spinning wheel.
We wake up one morning and look around our lives and wonder where the time went… what happened to our dreams… and wonder why our life now looks so different to the one we had envisioned for ourselves… back in those heady happy days… running around the backyard bogged up to the ankles in our mother’s high heeled shoes!
“We all only have today” my Grandmother used to say.
[I had trouble negotiating this idea as a child…but I could tell by the tone of her voice that the message was a "grave" one - grin]
Did we really wish our lives away?
Or more importantly…
“Are we wasting the time we have right now?”
Fortunately it’s never too late to reclaim “the time of your life!”
But let’s do it sooner… rather than later.
Regardless of how old you are… [or how young you might still be for that matter]
There has never been a better time than NOW
To realise your hopes and dreams!
Go on… get out there and
BE AMAZING!
This Post was written in response to a request from fellow Blogger Abubakar Jamil for submissions to his Life Lessons series. I enjoyed the opportunity to explore and revisit some of the deep and dreamy recesses of my childhood memories here. [Grin] Thank you!
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Jean,
Thank you for this lovely post and necessary reminders to live our life in the NOW.
I appreciate your being a part of the Life Lessons Series.
You are so very welcome. I enjoyed the challenge of putting the words together to [hopefully] make something meaningful. The cartoon illustration [as always] was pure fun to do. Took me back to the sandpit and the home of my childhood dreams. I loved every minute of it!
Jean. That was lovely. Am very guilty of wishing my life away so thank u for this great reminder. First time here and I love the look for your site. Very creative and fun. Thanks for a great post
Hi Uzma
Thanks for your lovely comments. I really do appreciate it – and you’re very welcome!
Jean,
Beautiful cartoon drawing with beautiful message. It is funny as a child I always wanted to grow up and now I wish I can be carefree as a child. Only wish I knew than to enjoy it. Now, I can enjoy my adult life
Hi Preeti
I think it’s a universal experience really… to not know what we’ve got until it’s gone. I believe it is entirely possible to retain our childish enthusiasm as an adult… [if we are willing to risk appearing foolish] but I reckon it’s a worthwhile risk… and a noble aspiration for us all! (((chuckles)))
Thanks so much for your lovely comment here. So lovely to meet you!
Hi Jean, love the cartoon as always. Big important thoughts, truly, but I wonder how many people can ever get this message. I know exactly what you’re talking about, and at age 70 I’m busier than ever, with my “work” being fun, what was always fun for me being my “work,” coaching lacrosse to kids, going sailing, traveling, etc. I’ve had a pilots license for 30 years, raced cars, acted on Broadway, written and directed films, continued all along to draw and paint, and pretty much done all the things I wanted to do when I was little, with so little transition from then to now that I can’t really say I ever “grew up.” I’m also fortunate in that most of my close friends of my generation have always lived to the fullest and still are. True, they are mostly in the arts like you and me, Jean, and I think this makes a big difference.
Hi John
You are so right there. Being in the arts does allow full expression of our true human potential. It can be deeply rewarding. Yours is an amazing story of achievement across a broad area of the creative arts and a great example of why we shouldn’t EVER grow up. If growing up means losing that spirit of adventure and enterprise then none of us should do it! LOL
I think though for many people life somehow intervenes in the early stages. We leave childhood and grow toward adulthood with the best of intentions… and then fate intervenes.
For me it was the tragic and sudden loss of my older brother when he was only 18. This one single event rocked our family and changed the trajectory of our lives forever. I grew up overnight.
Facing the reality of life and death at such an early age has the effect of stealing childhood away more quickly and comprehensively than any other human experience.
It does however lead to a deeper [and ultimately richer] viewpoint and a completely different appreciation for how precious life really is. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel compelled to get out there and wave the flag for him… because he didn’t get the chance to.
Most people face some level of hardship challenge and tragedy throughout their lives. Life can be a serious business! Remembering to not sweat the small stuff and love and nurture the good stuff [I think] is our ultimate challenge. It’s not easy. But it’s worth it.
So glad you liked the cartoon… it was so much fun to do… and really took me back
Hi Jean,
What a lovely blog, and a wonderful contribution to the Life Series. I loved taking a trip down memory lane with you and memories of my own childhood and the eternity between one Christmas and the next… now I shop in the January sales because I know we’ll be tra-la-laaaaing again before I catch breath!!
Living for the present and enjoying every moment of the life we have is a great lesson. Thank you for sharing your very personal journey.
Sarah
Hi Sarah
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving such an encouraging comment here! I really do appreciate it.
Know just what you mean about the tra-la-la-ing. We’ve just done Christmas in July down here in the land downunder… just so we can celebrate in winter. It’s nuts I know… celebrating two Christmases a year probably makes the time go twice as fast… but heck it can be a whole lot of fun! LOL
Thanks [again] very much!
I read this a few weeks ago and thought for sure I left my thoughts – for how I could not when this post touched me so deeply. Abubakar sent me here and I am so happy he did. Thank you dear Jean for doing the Life Lesson Series and doing it in such a way that it makes me reflect on my every day life. And I love the colors on the site! You are an artist!
Hi Farnoosh
Thanks so much for your lovely comments! It’s always encouraging to hear when someone is touched by what was said. I’m also very glad you like it here… it certainly is “colorful”… and I do try hard to keep it that way! LOL Thanks again…
Jean, I am scrubbing all our 108 life lessons for the *best of* ebook and I want to quote your entire post. This is beautiful even the second time around. YOU are amazing to me. Thank you again for participating!
Gosh thanks Farnoosh
I am honored indeed!
Thanks also for bringing me back here and enabling me to visit this post again as well. Isn’t it funny how we so soon forget what we have written. So many words. So many memories. So much life in the things we do. It’s so important [I think] to write down “who” we are. Even if we are the only ones who ever get to read it. At least we can look back at the end of it all [whenever that might be] and say… oh yes I remember… I was here… and it meant something [to me].
Thanks again Farnoosh
So pleased. So honored.