Just keep swimming.

I revert back to when I was seven years old.

My mom has a picture of me getting into my dad's kitchen junk drawer. I'm wearing a pink sweat shirt and matching sweat pants. My mouth is wide open in surprise. The look on my face: busted!

I think of how easy life was for me when I was in first grade. All life back then, like Jerry Seinfeld put it, was settled in kid court (He called it). Our rule for the TV: if you turned it on, you had control until you relinquished command. This would cause me to wake up at ungodly hours to watch the Bozo the Clown Show on WGN. On Saturdays and during the summer we would seperate TV watching by shows. We would rotate. I was mean and always made sure I was in the rotation where my TV show was going to be in my time slot.

I had a million stuffed animals that were all arranged, biggest in the back/smallest in the front, on a vintage coffee table. Dimesntions 24 inches by 80 inches. A selection of my favorite were placed on my bed when on the rare occasion it was made. It was a sad day when I donated 90% of my stuffed animals to the DI. I think I was going into high school.

I had a collection of books I never read.

I had awards for drill team.

I listened to KKDS on the AM radio dial. I would call and make requests.

I had long blonde hair and a crush on every boy.

I would sit up with my father late at night and watch him type numbers into an old 10-key calculator and balance his check book. He had his desk and I had mine. He would give me paper and pen to draw with while I heard the familliar noises of the machine behind me. I would change the channel on the 13-inch TV he had to MTV. But I'd keep it turned down low as to not wake my sister up or for him to find out.

When he decided to come to church I would jet over to sit on his lap.

Life was so much simpler when I was seven.