One day it becomes very clear that childhood has gone and there is no return.
There will never again be such a spontaneity. The wishes will not be as bright and clear any more as when there was only one thing important right then, and no consequences existed.
Everything has become too complex, too factitious and too similar. Every desire now has to be elaborated long and hard in order to squeeze another scintilla of joy out of this life while staying within common decencies.
In childhood, any trifling matter like a wooden toy horse found in the attic by accident, could bring joy of the magnitude simply unattainable now – neither with a vacation on Côte d'Azur, nor another lover or a new car.
But the most powerful sensation of childhood was the anticipation of something new which you could only be guessing about. Like when you know for sure there is an ocean of joy and happiness waiting for you, it is you just don't know what it will exactly be like yet.
It is like dreaming of a bicycle, which you never had or even tried to get on but you hear boys in the street yelling ecstatically when zooming by on their bikes. And you know – one day, very soon you will too...