The lazy summers of my childhood will never return. Why didn't I appreciate them more when I had them? The least I can do is appreciate the little taste of them I'm getting now. But noooo, I have to go and worry about the fact that I don't have any money and feel guilty that my aging, hardworking parents still get to feed and house and clothe me and pay my credit card minimums...

All I want is to be a kid again, and not have to worry about these things, and run around in my bare feet, stepping on garden slugs and screaming and never getting to be the Robber in Cops and Robbers. Is that so much to ask?

You really wanna know something??
Five years ago, that would be too much to ask. All I ever wanted back then was to be able to not hear that I was too young or not old enough to do anything. All I wanted then was to go to school everyday without having to ask mom for change, and hear her say something similar to:
I'm paying the bills...
I'm buying the food...
When you get a job, you can do what you want...
Back then, I would give up my childhood to go one day without a sermon on the ironboard.

Five years after that point, I have accomplished that dream. I have went out without having to rely on mom and a lengthly speech. But with that freedom comes insecurity, credit card payments, cell-phone payments, and (gasp!) the possibility of summer labor (the summer labor that occurs beyond the home...)
Five years after that point, I wish I can say that wanting to be a kid again is not too much to ask. But, in my most sincere opinion, to go back to the way it used be will not make things any better for me. I will just end up in the rut I so wanted to get out of. My situation will vary from many others, but for those like me, there is no turning back from the path I have chose to take. And for that, I say ...

I don't wanna go back there!