There are days when I miss being young. Not because I don’t love the life I have now, but because I didn’t know, back then, how special those days were. I didn’t know how quickly the years would pass, or how many people and places I took for granted would someday exist only in my memories.

I was thinking about that today while listening to Child for a Day by Cat Stevens. It’s funny how a song you loved when you were young can mean so much more when you’re older.

I was a child
Who ran full of laughter
I was a child, who lived for today
My eyes full of sunshine
My heart full of smiles
I was a child for a day.

And just like that, I’m taken back.

Back to when summers seemed endless. When we rode our bikes until dark. When our biggest worry was whether we had to come inside. When our parents were young, our grandparents were still around, and we thought life would always be that way.

We didn’t know how good we had it.

We were always looking ahead. We couldn’t wait to grow up. To drive a car. To have our own money. To make our own decisions.

And then, somehow, we did all those things.

We built careers. Raised families. Paid bills. Made mistakes. Lost people we loved. Celebrated weddings, welcomed grandchildren, and watched our own children become adults.

And somewhere along the way, we grew older.

One of the strange things about aging is that, inside, we don’t feel all that different. The mirror tells us one story, but our hearts often tell us another.

There’s still a little of that child in all of us. The one who laughed without a reason. Who believed tomorrow would always come. Who thought the people we loved would be around forever.

Of course, we can’t go back. And I’m not sure we’d really want to. There is so much to be grateful for in the life we’ve lived.

But every now and then, an old song comes on, and for a few minutes, the years seem to fall away.

We remember the people, the places, and the simple joys we didn’t know were so special at the time.

I think that’s one of the gifts of growing older. We finally understand how precious those ordinary days really were.

I suppose if I could tell my younger self just one thing, it would be this:  Don’t be in such a hurry.  These are the days you’ll someday wish you could visit again.

Even if only for a day.

Take a couple minutes and listen to Cat Stevens sing “Child for a Day.”  Maybe it will take you back somewhere, too.