“All children, except one, grow up.”

True enough, all children do grow up, except for Peter. Peter is the embodiment of all childhood dreams really, he fly's in and out of our memories, making us smile or laugh at the craziest moments, making us wish we could relive favorite memories; not truly wanting to grow up.
When I think of memories I would like to hold onto, they're mostly in my teen years, such as last year, and the year before, when I really started to find out who I was as a person and who I would soon become, as I am now. I remember thinking, 'I wish I could just stop time when I get to age seventeen or so..' but we all know that would never happen, now at seventeen I wish I'd held onto the memories and the experiences even more then I had when I was young. I wish I'd let my Peter Pan come though my mind a little more, to as I describe it, 'slow the process' and let me live my childhood a little bit longer, but sadly we can't go back and repeat sophomore and junior year, which to tell you the truth, I don't really care all that much. I wish I could've stopped and watched myself live it, giving myself little words of encouragement when I would need or to tell myself I was about to do something INCREDIBLY stupid and to think twice about it.
When I was between the ages five and seven I wished so hard that Peter would come and take me away, that I could meet the boy who was twelve and still had EVERY single one of his baby teeth, who had fair hair and fair skin, a light hearted and mischievous boy who would get me into trouble and probably make me want to hurt him, but none the less I wished he would come through my window and take me away with him to Neverland, so I wouldn't have to answer those questions of 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and I never knew what to tell them, I think the earliest memory of me actually answering the question is that I wanted to go with pixies and Peter Pan. All the adults laughed and I frankly didn't understand what was happening. Every year when we would take our annual family camping trip I would run up to my room the second we got home to see if there was anything in my room for me, I always believed that Peter would be sitting on my bed, playing his little wooden flute and tell me that it was finally time to go away with him to Neverland, to live with him and become a lost girl.
The book Peter Pan clearly states that their are only lost boys saying that the boys fall out of their prams when the nurse isn't looking, but girls are much to clever to fall out of their prams. If a baby isn't claimed within ten days then it's sent to the Neverlands, I'm adopted and I always believed that I was the only girl ever to fall out of her pram, but I was claimed by a wonderful amazing family, so I still have the wildness that would've been instilled in me if I'd gone. I believe in all those fairy tale creatures, that somewhere there is a prince waiting for me one day to sweep me off my feet, although in Neverland, only children live there, haven't you ever realized that there aren't any adults?

-Birdy

“All children, except one, grow up.”