I walk into the gypsy camp and the leader greets me. "Droboy turne romale," he says.
I don't understand the language but I know it to be a greeting and I surprise myself by answering in the same tongue, "Nais tuke." I wonder how I knew … I repeat in English, "Thank you."

I'm given the freedom to wander, to speak to whomever I please. The most fun though is watching the little children playing bare-footed in their brightly colored clothes. They seem so free … like foals kicking up their rear legs and racing around the meadow just for the heck of it. I can tell by looking into their eyes that they are truly happy. Enjoy yourselves, little ones, for soon you will be adults and will leave your childhood behind. Just don't forget it as I did, for you will need to return to those carefree days in the future. There will come a time when the weight of adult cares and woes will be too much to bear. Return then to today, even if it is just for a few minutes. You'll find that you will be the same person then as you are now, except that you will have moved on, perhaps too far on for your own good.

I think of my own story and the child in me.

This morning, I looked in the mirror
and saw what I see every day,
and aging image
with wrinkles,
white hair,
and far-away eyes.

I stare at my image and wonder,
what happened?
I look longer,
when something magical happens.

The image changes
My white hair is now
a glistening, hazel brown,
painted by the sun
and high lit by the stars.
And the eyes,
no longer distant
are animated,
mischievous,
laughing,
beckoning.
And the wrinkles,
where did they go?

I look deeper into the looking glass,
and I see my child,
my inner child
looking back at me.
She's with me still.
She's here.
She's me,
has never left me.
I laugh, the sound is strange,
and I realize
I haven't done so in a while.

I turn from the mirror
and grab my coat.
I'm going outside to play.
Yes, to play.
Oh, sure, my arthritis will slow me down,
but I will not feel the pain.
Besides, what the heck,
I'm a kid again
with things to do,
places to go,
and dreams to dream.

Vi
©August 15, 2005