“It’s in there!”

“Not anymore. It’s been gone for years.”

Just like a laptop, the human mind holds a storage of memories, and just like any technology expert will tell you about your computer, if your mind runs out of storage space, it will force you to delete unwanted flashbacks.

So what’s in your brain that you have deleted from your thoughts? It’s the former you, that child you once were that might have gradually washed away like pebbles of sand against a raging high tide. You know, the little boy or girl filled with both wonder and insecurity, dependent upon your mother and father to guide your way and protect you from harm.

We should all be so fortunate to have had parents who loved us and nurtured us into facing all the hurricanes of life’s challenges with courage and to teach us to accept our fellow human beings without judgment.

But that’s not how it is with everyone. That’s how it wasn’t for me.

I wanted my inner little boy to leave me for good once I grew up. I shouted him back into the depths of my soul when he tried to make me feel unworthy or scared. Yet, his frail voice would not remain silent, reminding me that unlike pushing the delete button on my computer, the child who lives inside my heart and in my mind will never leave me no matter how much I might want him to go.

And so now, instead of pretending that he’s not there anymore, I have decided to welcome his presence and give him all the love he never had when he was little.

Author Angie Karan said: “As you connect to the inner child, miracles happen. Let your inner child run wild! Remember the days when you were innocent and carefree and discover that you are still that hopefully, wide-eyed kid at heart!” And so, it goes. The kid in me plays every baseball game I watch, reels in every fish I catch, and sings to every song I had listened to in my teenage days.

One might say: “Put away your childhood toys. You’re a responsible man now and you need to act mature.” To bring back a favorite expression of my formative years when I was told to do something that I didn’t want to do, I’d say, “But I don’t wanna!”

And from the Eagles’ classic song, “New Kid in Town,” I quote these words.

“There’s talk on the street; it sounds so familiar.

“Great expectations, everybody’s watching you.

“People you meet they all seem to know you,

Even your old friends treat you like you’re something new.

“Johnny-come-lately, the new kid in town. …”

Yes, I’m the old man, and the new kid, all put together. Now, I do have some reservations about freeing the little boy in me. You won’t find me playing in a sandbox or jumping rope, but I would have no problem pumping my legs to go as high as I can on the swings at the park.

Deepak Chopra said: “Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you’re in trouble because the reason can be taken from you.”

Of course, there are things we did as kids that, if we did them as adults, the men with the white coats would drag us away to a mental institution. Would you jump into a mud puddle? How about ride a bicycle? Would you play a game of hide-and-seek with your child or grandchild?

Here are a few more quotes to ponder. From the Visit the Mind’s Journal: “Be a child again. Dip your cookies in milk. Take a nap.” Author George Bernard Shaw wrote: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.”

A child has freedom from worry. Imagine if we could train our adult minds to stop worrying about everything and reduce the stress in our lives. Imagine if we can bring back the curiosity in the small things that a puppy has.

I watched my friend’s dog, Bella, the other day in the backyard. She ran to chase a ball that I had thrown, but along her path she stopped and looked up at a squirrel frolicking in a tree. She chased a butterfly and she smelled a flower in the garden. Like kids, dogs feel joy in the things we often ignore.

Children are the same way when they experience a whole world that is new to them.

Imagine if we can take the time from our responsible lives and pay close attention to the small things. Look deeply into a flower to observe its intricate details. Over a cup of coffee, watch songbirds flit about the feeder. We don’t need the healthy bodies we had as kids; you just need your eyes to look at life through a child’s mind and everything fascinates us again.

Take a walk in the woods and find a place that would be ideal for that fort you had built out of branches and twigs back in the day. Toss a Wiffle ball to an 8-year-old and remember when you threw a baseball in Little League. Play Marco Polo in the pool with a group of sixty somethings.

When my daughter was very young, she would shout “Yay!” when she was about to do something that would bring her delight. I have happily inherited that word from her when something is about to bring joy to my inner child.

The next time I get a chance to play cornhole with my 20-year-old son or lick ice cream cones with my 18-year-old daughter, I’ll be the new kid in town once again.

YAY!

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com