Grateful to Look Back Fondly

I am grateful to look back fondly, to reminisce on the past with a smile and to know with certainty that I was lucky. I remember childhood positively and starting with the basics, I had food on the table, lights to read and learn, and a roof to shelter me. I was given the chance to be a child, to laugh and play as my main directives, to wonder about the world and the strange people who composed it, particularly myself. I know now that this kind of youth is never guaranteed to occasion.

My family and I were neither poor nor rich—though these are relative terms— but we always had enough. And enough is absolute. In short, I grew up with privilege, a word that seems too polarizing these days. This privilege should not induce shame from underserved serendipity but instead, an appreciation that I had something special, in the most non-hackneyed meaning of the word. I think from this acknowledgment, I pace one step closer to a world where the special can become ordinary; that one day, all children can be children.

Growing up, I had a family that loved (and still loves) me unconditionally; that I was worthy of support and generosity with no terms. That too is special.

I am grateful to look back fondly.