One of the great things in life is that we change, and things around us change. As children we are one thing, and as adults another, while the name on our birth certificate remains the same. We gain some things, we keep some things, and lose some things in the process of growing up. 

While it is common to equate childhood with the concept of innocence, there is more going on than what we do and do not know, that separates the world of an adult from that of a child. We cherish children because of the promise that they hold within, but we may cherish them more for the tilt of their sails, for what they are, in the here and now. Childhood is often a time of amazing clarity and focus, when learning new things comes more easily than it ever will again. It is a fleeting time that we spend as children, but it is as real as adulthood, if not more so. To me, “Soccer Girl” is a piece about the beauty of the child as a thing in itself, unencumbered by any notion that she is but a half-baked adult. 

The playing field is not level. The cards are stacked to rob us of our youth, but maybe the lesson of the child is that with a bit of luck, and a bit of focus, we can maintain our ability to play, to have some fun, and also do some good things in a complicated world, without always carrying the weight of it on our backs.