When I Was Little - Words Stolen from Shane's Head by Me

When I Was Little
By Shane Harris – 8 years old

I am from Granddaddy.
A police chief who has retired
But isn’t really tired – he just didn’t want to work anymore.
A man who takes me to McDonald’s
Because no one else will,
And will pick me up early from school just to go get ice cream.
Someone who tires to show me how to play baseball
And ALWAYS tries to tell me about those old people
In those funny colored pictures,
Even though I really don’t understand who those people are.

I am from Granddaddy
Who always tries to trick me,
But I am much smarter than I used to be
Last year
When I was little.

I am from Meemaw
A cook, a singer, a secretary
And a mom.
A woman who let’s me get away with so much more than my parents!
Someone who laughs when I say things –
Things that make my parents’ eyebrows go together.
Someone who makes me pancakes
In the shape of my name and always
Makes sure I get to do what I want when I visit her lake.
I am from a swing tied to a tree that Papa Flip hung up just for me,
Even though, secretly, I am afraid of heights…
And swings…
And hitting the trees that the swing is tied to.

I am from Meemaw
Who always tells me
That I am getting to be much braver than I used to be
Last year
When I was little.

I am from Grandma and Grandpa
Who grew up picking cotton.
From funny names like
Alwin
Wanda
Bubby
Sister
Rocky
Sunshine
And Davy Dean.
From a fisherman who wants to take me out on his boat
And doesn’t understand why it terrifies me.
I am from Georgetown, Texas
Where they live and where my parents met many years ago.

I am from Grandma and Grandpa
Who we don’t go see very much because I hate long car rides.
But I am getting to be much more patient than I used to be
Last year
When I was little.

I am from a family
Loving
Blended
Spread out
Funny
Christians
Survivors
Hard workers
A bit screwed up
But they are my family

Someday I want to have a family too.
I am always telling my dad that I can’t wait to be married.
It’s not just the kiss that I look forward to,
Even though that is what I tell my mom,
Secretly…
A whisper in her ear.
It’s gonna be so much fun to play with my kids!
Maybe I should start looking for that girl who will be my wife.
Isabell?
Chloe?
Or the beautiful Gretchen that I only get to see at recess time
From across the playground.

Oh well, I guess that will have to wait til later
Maybe next year…
When I’m in third grade…
Because third graders MUST understand these things better than I did
Last year
When I was little.