Puff the Magic Dragon

(AKA: The best life lessons are learned through song)
(I even did a project on that for school once!)
So, before I begin, let me ask the few of you who read this...why is it that all my profound thoughts come when I'm wasting time playing Freecell or Bubblez? It's true! And then I usually forget them right away, but tonight, you can have the pleasure of viewing what I think is profound...or at least true and meaningful.
Puff the Magic Dragon used to be (and I guess still is) one of my favorite songs. We would sing it in the car all the time when I was little. I'm sure my mother didn't know she was poisoning me with stories about marajuana (have you heard the rumors, too?). I have a hunch she would start singing it just because she knew it would make me cry at the end. Oh, how I would bawl when Jackie grew up and quit visiting. You'll laugh, but I'm crying even now as I think about it. I don't think I ever even heard the final words in that verse. I was just so sad the poor dragon had lost his friend.
Tonight as I was playing bubblez, I just started humming the song to myself, and it hit me. That's one of the things I truly miss about being young. I was thrown in with all these people on a daily basis at school and just made lots of friends by default. Some were because of common interests, and some were unexpected, and some were just for fun...and some were because they were my brother's friends. I swore those friendships would last forever, and that I'd make even more relationships as I grew. When you're together so much, it's easy to be friends. It's easy to keep in touch. It's easy to give gifts (string, sealing wax....fancy stuff like that!). I'm not placing blame, but it's just not easy once you enter the real world. The time you have together is so stilted. I always enjoy getting together with friends, but I feel weird. I'm not good at starting conversations. I really truly am interested in my friends' lives, but I don't know what questions to ask (David, my step-brother, is a whiz at that, and I truly admire that gift!), and I feel like my life is just so plain, and, while not uneventful, at least not something I'm proud of (except the kiddies, most of the time...unless they're acting up in public). Sharing problems feels more like whining to me (and sometimes I really am whining), and I would really rather hear about how their lives are going.
So I feel like Puff. My Jackie Papers have found other lives and I've ceased my fearless roar...sadly slipped into my cave of daily drudgery...
I guess I should probably spend the time I'm spending on the Blog writing to friends. But like I said the other day, does anybody care? Will anyone correspond back? Have the painted wings and giant rings made way for other toys? Or are my friends just as confused about growing up as I am? Maybe they've come back to look for me, but I'm too far back in my cave. Yeah, I don't know. If you do, please let me know. And if you're my friend and reading this, know that I love you and miss you. And if you feel like frolicking (hmmm...as I grow older everything gets a double meaning...but, well, you know what I mean), contact me sometime!

(ok, that's about as profound as I get. Plato I am not!)