What’s something you used to believe as a kid that seems ridiculous now?
I. The Physics of Fairies
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I once thought flowers whispered to the bees
in languages only garden-grown hearts could hear,
that the moon was actually a giant coconut
being slowly cracked open by celestial squirrels
who traded starlight for forgotten dreams.
I believed shadows were my doppelgängers
learning to be human while I slept,
that they practiced my walk in the attic,
my laugh in the basement,
my tears in the rain.
II. The Mathematics of Magic
I counted the stars by planting them in jars,
believing each one would grow into a new constellation
if I watered them with moonbeams and whispered
the right prayers at exactly 3:33 AM.
I thought numbers had personalities,
that seven was the loneliest number,
that three was the most forgiving,
that infinity was just God running out of counting fingers.
III. The Geography of Imagination
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I mapped imaginary countries on the back of my eyelids,
believing my bedroom walls were actually borders
between the known and the wonderfully possible,
that the crack under my door led to an underground river
where forgotten toys went to become memories.
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I thought the horizon was an actual line
painted by giants who got bored halfway through,
that if I stood on my tiptoes long enough,
I could step over into the next day.
IV. The Philosophy of Small Things
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I believed clouds were actually thoughts
floating by from the minds of sleeping giants,
that thunder was their arguments,
that lightning was their fingers pointing at the sky
when they got particularly angry about something
that happened millions of years ago.
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I thought shadows were actually the truth
of things, while the objects casting them
were just costumes we wore for the performance of being real.
V. The Theology of Tooth Fairies
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I believed that losing teeth was actually
a spiritual graduation ceremony,
that each fallen tooth was a message sent
to the ancestors who collected them like stamps,
that the Tooth Fairy was actually a postal service
between the world of children and the world of grown-ups
who had forgotten how to properly listen to their own bones.
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I thought bedtime was actually a border crossing
between the country of dreams and the nation of daylight,
that if I held my breath exactly right,
I could catch the dream-customs officers
smuggling bits of tomorrow into today.
VI. The Economics of Wonder
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I believed that imagination was actual currency
that you could spend it on wonder
and it would grow back stronger
in the soil of disbelief,
that adults were actually bankrupt
in the economy of impossible things,
that they had traded their magic wallets
for sensible ones that only held rational thoughts.
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I thought that if I believed hard enough
in something that wasn’t real,
reality would eventually have to acknowledge
its existence,
that the universe was basically a shy poet
waiting for someone to finish its sentences.
VII. The Physics of Poetry
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I believed that words had weight,
that “love” was heavier than “hate,”
that “maybe” floated,
that “always” was anchored to the earth,
that if you arranged the right words in the right order,
you could actually change the weather
or make the rain taste different.
A childhood belief that seems absurd now—
I thought that stories were actually portals,
that the best way to travel was through someone else’s imagination,
that reading a book about flying made you lighter,
that the world was actually round because
every story eventually comes back to where it began,
just slightly changed.
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In the end, perhaps the most absurd belief of all is that growing up means outgrowing wonder. Maybe we just learn to hide it better.
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