“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.”

It's a glorious morning. When I went to get the papers from the driveway, I stayed out a bit and did a little weeding. There I was in my pajamas weeding my little herb garden. The sun did it to me, made me want to be out just a bit longer.

I get impatient around this time of year. I was okay all winter. I expected to be bundled. I expected to be cold, but it's May, and I want warm. I want lazy days in the sun. I want bare feet. I want ice cream cones and watermelon. I want the smell of meat cooking on the grill. I want breakfast, lunch and dinner on the deck. I want summer.

When I was a kid, summer meant having a whole day to do what I wanted. The choices seemed endless. My brother and I once spent an entire summer at the zoo. One of the zoo keepers had become a friend and let us go behind the cages and feed the animals. I remember carrying pails of vegetables from cage to cage. We even got to feed the elephant. We'd bring our lunches and walk the few miles to the zoo. My mother always gave us bus fare one way, and we chose going home when we were exhausted from our day. It was my favorite summer.

On Route 1 there used to be a place called Kiddy Land. When we went to visit my grandmother, I always looked for the top of the small roller coaster and harbored a hope that some day we'd go to Kitty Land, and I'd ride that coaster. I remember when we did. My parents told us to get in the car for a surprise ride. When we got close to our surprise, they told us where we were going. We shouted and laughed and made kid noises. My father said we were too loud, and he was turning around to take us home. I remember sitting in the back seat being totally devastated when he said that. My father got to the rotary, circled it and headed home. I was in tears. Just as we started to drive pass that roller coaster, my father pulled into the parking lot. Because Kiddy Land was on the going home side of the road, he had to turn around. My dad thought it was funny. I didn't. I have another memory of that day. I remember the roller coaster ride. I remember the pure joy of going down that hill. I laughed the whole way.