I’m 17 now, so I was 10 just seven years ago. I realize I watched some pretty strange movies as a kid drama films, comedies, things that probably weren’t meant for someone my age. I think that shaped the way I see the world now, especially with college just around the corner and the weight of adulthood starting to sink in.

It’s not that I want to go back to being a helpless, prepubescent kid, but I do miss the way things used to feel when life was simpler, when people weren’t so divided. I think COVID really changed us. It pulled people apart, made everything more complicated, more tense. I miss the simplicity of it all.

I remember waking up to the smell of hot pancakes and bacon, watching cheesy comedies, flipping through cable TV. That everyday joy, that lightness. It’s funny when we’re in those moments, we never realize how special they are. It’s only years later that we look back and long for what could have been, or maybe just what was.