I was running around, taking in all of the scenery. The trees, the fresh air, the mountains, my parents smiled at me as they clearly saw I was enjoying our little road trip. I look further and finally saw the best attraction of this whole trip according to my young mind, the ice cream van! I ran towards it while hearing my parents shouting for me to slow down and wait for them behind me, but I couldn’t contain myself.

While I was running towards my goal, ignoring anything and everything in my path, I was thinking of all the different ice cream flavours I could have; strawberry, chocolate, that one with the colourful stripes, oh it was all just so exciting!

I push past many people, getting closer and closer to my goal. But then I felt pain in one of my knees, I saw the icecream van slowly vanish and get further and further away, as I looked down, I saw red and it was not strawberry icecream.

My parents ran to me, checking me if I was okay while giving me the usual lecture a 6-year-old would get for running off, I cried in pain while my mother comforted me. “It’s not that bad, look it’s only small, it will be fine,” she said calmingly. I felt my dad lift me up and before I knew it I was in the car and our trip had ended early.

I often look down at my knees now, 10 years after, and laugh not cry. My childhood innocence and brain left me with a cut like scar, just above my left knee cap. It reminds me often to enjoy life, but take your time with it. To not rush things as good things will come to you on their own eventually. Unless we are talking about that ice cream I was supposed to get on that day, it never came, but I think I would have picked plain old vanilla anyway.