I just watched a Bruce Willis movie, called “The Kid”. I enjoyed it, though it may be a bit saccharine for some – and yes, I did cry at the happy ending. It’s a story of a bitter and spiritually dead but incredibly wealthy image consultant who meets his eight year old self, and has to relearn things about himself in order to save himself from a lonely end. It also showed us that we should never forget our child self, and the dreams that child self had.
What did I want to be when I was eight years old? I can’t quite remember, and I’m not even sure that I thought that far ahead when I was eight. If I did, I’m pretty sure that I would have wanted to be a fairy elven princess living in a castle in England. Well, eight year old self, I didn’t do too bad. I’m a Druid living in a beautiful house in the English countryside – it’s pretty close.
What would I say to my eight year old self? Yes, there were rough spots and there were glorious spots. There were heartbreaking tragedies and uplifting victories. There were mistakes and compassion, beauty and ugliness, and everything in between. But it all turned out good.
In the movie, the 40 year old self and the eight year old self then meet the 70 year old self. So, I wonder what my 70 year old self would say to me? I hope that I have made that person proud, as proud as my eight year old self. I would hope that life would be filled with love and compassion, and that I would never stop dreaming; never lose that eight year old self.
What would your eight year old self say to you?
Down the Forest Path 
My eight-year-old self would be disappointed that I am not a scientist. She would be bewildered that it took me six years to graduate with a bachelor’s degree–with a degree in religious studies! I think she would be happy, though, that I still aim to change the world, but in a different way than science. I’m not really sure what else she might say, though.
Blessings,
Victoria
Excellent! Don’t forget, science was the religion of the past… x
My eight year old self would say, ‘ How did you get this far without cracking up’?! ‘Nice to see that you toughened up after mum left home and Dad died young. Look how it strengthened your resolve to stand by your family through thick and thin’. I would give my eight year old self a great big hug and say, ‘You have so many adventures ahead. Think everything through, but follow your heart’.
That’s brilliant!
Wow, 8 was a really rough year for me. We moved like 500 miles so our parents could send us to a Christian school, and I was really starting to question their fundie religion already. So I guess I would tell him that it would get better eventually, not to be scared to explore his world and as a side note let him know that opiates are NOT our friend, to try and be more careful because there have been far to many concussions and broken bones. I would also tell him to finish school no matter how stupid it seemed at the time.
He would likely remind me to see the good in everyone, wonder why my hair was not blonde anymore – freak out about my tattoos and yell at me for being a smoker.
Hopefully my 70 year old self would be to busy enjoying a sunset to be bothered talking to me.
Ha ha! Love it – thanks for sharing! x