Lessons I Don't Really Miss

I miss a lot of stuff.  Not like things I've lost.  No, just stuff that I either don't get to do anymore because I'm too big, too old, too busy, too fearful, or just too uncoordinated.  My mom and I were having a short conversation about this very topic as my seven year old was cartwheeling back and forth in between us.  My mom said, "Don't you wish you could just fly around a room like that without a worry about hurting yourself?"
I said, "Yeah." But I really didn't think about it too much ... until now.  I don't really want to do cartwheels, but I'm pretty sure if I tried to do one now, there's a solid chance that I would crack more than my knuckles.  So here's the list for the day:
Things I Miss...  Sort Of
1. My swing set. Ours had a glider bench thing on it.  It was made of metal and the poles that held it up were hollow.  So I could stand on the footrest of the glider, hang on to the top part of the A- frame brace, swing the lower half of my body back and forth, and yell, "TOOT, TOOT, ALL ABOARD?!" through the hollow, pole at the top that held the swing set together.  Good times... until the summer a wasp made its home in that same hollow pole.

2. Rolling down the ditch in our front yard.  That used to be fun.  Now I have to take a Dramamine just to push my daughter on the tire swing at the park.  What's up with that?  I used to run in circles in the living room during the snappy musical numbers on the Lawrence Welk Show - all for the sole purpose of getting dizzy.  That was all fun and games until I smacked my temple on the corner of the piano bench.

3. Slugging down two Ding-Dongs and an Orange Crush - without the slightest concern of consuming too much sugar in one sitting.  I'd walk to my Grandparent's house following an afternoon of swimming at the town pool and simply have a snack of my choice.  They had good snacks.  However, having that particular snack and THEN going swimming had its drawbacks.

4. Ice skating on the frozen creek by our home with my sister.  We'd glide and bump over the same bad patch of "skatable" ice over and over again.  We would walk about an eighth of a mile down the frozen gravel road with our ice skates already strapped on to our feet.  That's dedication... or stupidity.  Eventually we figured out how to put on our ice skates AT the creek, and that if we brought a shovel, we could clear a much bigger area.

As I am making this list, I am realizing that it's really not that bad having to grow up.  I had a pretty great childhood that I do miss some days.  But really, when it comes down to it, being a kid isn't that easy either.  Many lessons get learned the hard way - right in the middle of what seemed to be a really great time.  A wasp sting on my upper lip, the shiny goose egg on my forehead, the embarrassing result of an unsettled stomach mixed with sixteen cannonballs off the low dive, and twisted, frozen ankles - all proof that it's okay to grow up.

What do you sort of miss?