Do Over

The other day, a good friend asked me the following question. "If you had the chance, would you want to be five years old again and live life from this day on"? I immediately answered "No". I like where I am in life but there is no way that I would want to start life again in the year 2012. The follow up question was, "If you had to pick a year to be five years old, and live life, what year would it be?" Now, that was a tougher question. After a bit of thinking and calculating, I chose 1945. Here is my rationale for this answer. I would have been born in 1940 and therefore not aware of the hardships of WWII. I would have been a teenager in the mid 1950's. Life was more innocent then. I could have had burgers and shakes at the local hangout. Girls looked like girls. People respected each other. You could walk in the streets and be safe. Dinner was a nightly family event. Mom's stayed at home. Even though I would be sacrificing some of today's conveniences, I think it would be worth it. I would gladly trade an hour of computer time, if it meant that hour would be spent conversing with my children. I would give up fast food dinner for home cooked ones. Video games vs. stoop ball. Simple life. How nice would that be.