May you cherish your youth...

I wish to tell my grandchildren to live their lives fiercely, without being a hypocrite

I dream that one day I will sit with them around a bonfire on Bournemouth beach, roasting marshmallows, wrapped like blanket burritos. I will tell them of the time I climbed Mount Snowden, how I climbed to the very, very top along the edge of Crib Goch and how I disguised my fear with laughter while the rain came down on my wind scorn cheeks.

I will tell them that they haven't lived until they have cycled down a hill in the torrential rain in nothing but jeans and a sweatshirt. 

I want to tell them to cherish their youth. And when their Mother questions their reckless decisions I shall encourage random road trips, tell them to listen to other music instead of the same droning beats in the charts. I'll tell them to wear clothes that they want to instead of the clothes that everyone else is wearing. Travel the world, see both famous and secret sights, and treasure them equally.

They need to know what it feels like to climb to the top of a tree and fall into the mud- to come home to their mothers fleeting disappointment and the sound of a running bath. 

They need to binge on trashy television, get hooked on a tv series and experience the heartbreak when its over. They need to have a favourite book, one that as they draw closer to the last page feel as though in some way they are losing a friend.I will force them to watch every episode of friends until they are quoting it in conversations with friends of their own. And I will buy them Oreo milkshakes from american diners just as I did in my teens when I first got my driver's license.

I will tell them that even though I have aged, even though my hair is now grey and my eyelashes have grown sparse behind my glasses, I have loved fiercely and laughed monstrously. And I hope that they do too.

That is all I wish for.

For the grandchildren I do not have; The children I have yet to conceive; For my brother who sits in bed playing XBOX until the early hours of the morn; For the children in America who are being exposed to gun violence everyday and the children in Africa vomiting after drinking tainted water. 

I wish for every child to cherish their youth, and smile because despite the inevitable responsibilities, pointless politics and depressing tabloid fiction, they enjoyed their childhood and they shall marvel at how the very same childhood moulded them into the person they are today.