By Joseph McGowan

I get to relive my childhood with you and give you things that I never had
You don’t know it yet, but you’ve given me so much to live for
No, not things you have to buy in a store
But memories of times we shared

Time shared together and times we’ve yet to spend
For my childhood days of playing and make-believe
Have long gone around the bend
But just as every morning the land is gently kissed awake by the rising sun
You’ve given me the chance again to play hide and seek
To laugh and simply jump and run

And every time you ask me to play with you and one of your toys
You let me journey back in time to my childhood
When I was still young and playing with other boys
Making space ships and forts out of a cardboard box
Imaginary animals and hissing snakes out of old worn socks

Of lazy days and quiet times
Playing patty cake and singing nursery rhymes
Of tricycles, bicycles, bats and balls
Bumps and bruises, cuts and falls

Of skipping stones down at the pond, seeing turtles and catching frogs
Pretending to see crocodiles in the water that were just old logs
Of doing and saying things a kid would only understand
When you ask me into your world, for a short time
I am a boy again inside a man

They’re all part of growing up to a be man
And just another step on the journey of God’s plan
A childhood is what shapes us to be who we are
It’s the driving force behind us that makes us reach for the furthest star

I just had to thank you for your gift unbeknownst to you
For making all my wishes, my dreams and my childhood memories once again come true