132/365 - Because I was Once a Child (Madeleine L'Engle)

“I am still every age that I have been. 

Because I was once a child, 

I am always a child. 

Because I was once a searching adolescent, 

given to moods and ecstasies, 

these are still part of me, and always will be... 

This does not mean that I ought to be trapped 

or enclosed in any of these ages...

the delayed adolescent, 

the childish adult, 

but that they are in me to be drawn on; 

to forget is a form of suicide... 

Far too many people misunderstand 

what *putting away childish things* means,

and think that forgetting what it is like 

to think and feel 

and touch and smell 

and taste and see 

and hear like a three-year-old 

or a thirteen-year-old 

or a twenty-three-year-old 

means being grownup. 

When I'm with these people I, 

like the kids, 

feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, 

then I don't ever want to be one. 

Instead of which, 

if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, 

and *be* fifty-one, 

then I will really learn what it means to be grownup.” 

-  Madeleine L'Engle

(A Wrinkle in Time)