Treasures

There are many things that I treasure, my husband, my children, my family and friends.  But what about the things we treasured as children?  How different were those things?  A doll, teddy bear, a special jewelry box?  As we grow up our lives and priorities change, as well as the things we treasure every day, but we hold on to the special things from our childhood for a reason.  We still cherish these items but for a different reason.  Now we tenderly hold them and carefully caress them as we are taken back to the time in our childhood when we loved them.  It was so much simpler then.  For most of us our childhoods hold happy memories of riding bikes, getting dirty and for some being a princess.  Our moms were always there with a kiss for a boo boo and all the bad would go away.  How nice is it to go back to those times where chicken noodle soup and a bandaid fixed everything.  You got ice cream when you were sick and cartoons every Saturday.  I still have one treasure that brings a smile to my face.  I've had it for as long as I can remember.  It's a small bamboo box my Aunt Jane gave me and I have long forgotten where it came from.  But inside the box are dozens of small crystals.  My mom used to collect crystal figurines for me and these were pretty much just for decoration.  But whenever I opened that box and saw all those little twinkling gems I was transported to my lavish palace and those were my diamonds.  I still open that box that's tucked away in a drawer and stare inside at my diamonds.  I stick my finger in and shuffle them around like no one is looking.  My secret treasure.  And for just a moment I don't have kids screaming, bills to pay, a house to clean, dinner to cook and a husband 8,000 miles away.  I have dozens of sparkling, shining diamonds winking at me.