The Mystery Of It All
2004-09-27, 4:12 p.m.

Monday�s fortune:

Your mind will unlock great mysteries.

Boy howdy, is this giving me more credit than deserved or what? I guess it depends on how you define �great�. I did help Daughter find her glasses this morning. Does that count?

One mystery right now: How some childhood memories differ VASTLY from the actual experiences. For instance, while flipping channels earlier today, I happened upon what used to be one of my favorites. When I was a ten year old, Buck Rogers was the shizzle. Today, it took about 3 seconds to Behold the Power of Cheese. My word, the whole thing was primarily hairspray and disco balls in the future. The only thing missing was Leif Garrett on roller skates. (Whoops, my bad, that was CHiPs.) I came away with a strange tingly urge to dig out my Donna Summer Bad Girls album and begin to boogie.

I don�t wanna grow up. Do I have to? 36 going on 12 sounds good to me.

When I was 10, I watched ol� Buck and Battlestar Galactica (more Hair In Space) and CHiPs and saw Star Wars in the theater 6 or 7 times and listened to a lot of Abba. My career options were pretty much set. I was going to be a motorcycle cop, a stuntwoman, or a truck driver like the lady featured on Real People. I used to practice running and diving over the ENORMOUS (perhaps as high as two feet tall!) bush in the backyard. I was big stuff, or at least my imagination knew no bounds. Then there�s Son, now 10, who announced his career choice today while on the phone with Grandma. He is going to quit school, like, say, NOW, and sell lemonade. Yes, my child, whose world is his oyster, aspires to spend his days hawking fake sugary lemon juice by the roadside. No motorcycles, no starships, no adventures, just lemons. Look out riches, here he comes. At least he�s doing a little imagining, right?

I feel a little deflated. My memories were better than the actual experience this morning. Some things are best savored in the past, to let the magic remain. I hope my kids are finding some magic of their own in this reality-driven, imaginationally-challenged world. The real life washes over you much too fast. We all need more freedom to be kids a little while longer and envision or remember the improbable, whether or not it�s littered with disco balls and perfect hair.

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