Awaking dreams

   As I age, my dreams and visions seem to become more childlike.  The tin man and cowardly lion appear to me in living color and clarity. I dance a lively step or two with scarecrow and the brightness of Dorothy's ruby slippers blind me with the hope she finds her way home.

   Onboard the pirate's ship I stow away below decks as captain jack shouts out orders to his crew of scary pirates as I build the courage to let myself be seen. They were to make me walk the plank until captain jack took me under his wing and taught me the ways of the sea.

   The dreams of children are unspoiled and filled with the imagination only a child could see, but I feel these same things, and although it is me having the adventures, I am but a child in a grown man's body. Eventually, I will wake up and smile as I remember the fun sleep gave me.

   Playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, shooting marbles with a gang of ten-year-old boys and riding our bicycles with baseball cards in the spokes, so we sounded like an invasion of hardcore bikers. These were the realities of my youth so long misplaced far back in my memories but brought to life again in an old man's dreams.

   I get to experience once again the feeling of climbing the tallest tree in the woods and looking out as far as the eye could see, swaying with the breeze of autumn chill my boyish face a shade of red and a spec of fear that made my heart beat faster. In years past the simple joys of youth would be tucked away for me to remember as I look at wrinkled hands and feeble movements.

   Oh to be so young again, to relive those childhood adventures all coming to life when I close my eyes and feel every emotion I felt back then. I suppose my dreams will slowly go away as my memories begin to elude me, but until then, I will look forward to sleep and all the magic and wonder of it all.

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