How to Grow Up - by Madison Huizinga - Cafe Hysteria

As soon as I could run, I would run. I have vivid memories of running around a playground at recess - knees skinned, pigtails flailing, screams wailing. I would dance across my front yard in the summer in a swimsuit, skipping over a sprinkler turned on to water the dormant, yellow grass. I would loudly run around grocery stores in light-up sneakers and quietly around my grandparents' house in socked feet. There’s a brazen nature to children that must be admired. They aren’t loud and flagrant out of arrogance, or because of some deliberate defiance of social norms. They lack censorship because they literally do not know any better. They start life from scratch and adopt cultural customs little by little each day until they’re tall and strong and can no longer scream in a grocery store without turning heads. I think that’s why so many people are inspired by the thoughts and behaviors of children; they move through the world unbridled, viewing matters through a lens unencumbered by social

As soon as I could run, I would run. I have vivid memories of running around a playground at recess - knees skinned, pigtails flailing, screams wailing. I would dance across my front yard in the summer in a swimsuit, skipping over a sprinkler turned on to water the dormant, yellow grass. I would loudly run around grocery stores in light-up sneakers and quietly around my grandparents' house in socked feet. There’s a brazen nature to children that must be admired. They aren’t loud and flagrant out of arrogance, or because of some deliberate defiance of social norms. They lack censorship because