“Cmon Stephanie it won’t be that bad,” Jackie stated, trying to find a bright side. Stephanie looked up at the woman a frown deeply etched on her face. “Yeah right,” she grumbled. “Do you have any idea how much my childhood sucked. I was lonely all the time, my parents worked constantly, most of my fondest memories are of my freaking nanny! Do you have any idea how awful that is? I don’t want to go through that again.”
Ann had listened intently as Stephanie spoke. She had no idea her childhood was so lonely. Ann had always assumed that because Stephanie was from a well to do family, was attractive and intelligent that things had always been easy. Slowly she began to understand that Stephanie truely was a lonely woman, just like she was.
“Stephanie,” she said quietly. “Were things really that awful?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “My folks were in business also. They were constantly traveling, never home and always busy. The only person I could even consider a friend was my nanny Nina. I was lonely, my parents never had time for me. The only time they ever seemed to show interest is when I did well in school. They wouldn’t let me sleepover at kids houses, they wouldn’t let me have kids over for birthday parties. Their only interest was in creating a child that would succeed as an adult. To say it sucked would be an understatement.”
“Geez,” Jackie exclaimed. “What the hell kind of childhood is that? Have you talked with your parents about this? They basically denied you a childhood.”
“I’d love too,” Stephanie smirked. “But mom and dad died in a plane crash shortly after I graduated from college. Kind of ironic I did everything they wanted and succeeded but before they could say they were proud of me they died. Just my luck huh.”
Ann and Jackie looked at each other before giving Stephanie an uncomfortable look. The raven haired beauty sighed as she now examined her adult body. “And in a few hours I get to relive my childhood once again. Most people would give anything for their youth back. Me, I don’t want to go back.”
Ann had heard enough, she felt a great deal of empathy for Stephanie after hearing how lousy her childhood had been. She had thought being the middle child between two attractive and intelligent sister was awful but realized she had it easy compared to Stephanie. The poor girl had such high expectations placed upon her that she never had an opportunity to just be a kid. Slowly she stood from her spot on the couch, her mind was made up.
“Ann what are you doing?” Jackie asked as she watched her walk towards the kitchen. Ann smiled as she bent down, picking up some of the powder that lay on the floor and sprinkling herself with it. Jackie gaped at her friend, astonished at her actions. “What are you doing!”
“Jackie listen,” Ann said softly. “Stephanie never really had a chance to be a kid. I know what it was like feeling lonely. My reasons were mostly because of jealousy though. I was jealous of my sisters that and I was just a really shy kid. I do know one thing though. This is a loving family so if you have to be a child again I can think of no better place, I just want to show her what she missed out on the first time.”
“So you want to be a kid to show Stephanie that being a kid isn’t that bad,” Jackie exclaimed. “Ann, your talking about becoming a 6 year old kid in your sister house for a few days. Do you really want to do something that nuts?!?!”
Ann smiled as she placed a hand on Stephanie’s shoulder. “Yeah I am,” she smiled. “I can’t think of a better place to grow up than around this family.”
“And what about us,” Jackie frowned. “You know we were all supposed to be together this week. How am I going to hang out with you two if your six?”
“You could always come with us,” Ann said.
Jackie narrowed her eyes as she stared at her best friend. Grunting in frustration she threw her hands up in the air. Ann and Stephanie watched as Jackie stomped over to the remnants of the powder, picking up a handful and throwing it on herself. “You two owe me big time,” she grumbled.
Ann smiled as she hugged Jackie tightly. “Thanks Jackie,” she sighed. “I promise I’ll make this up to you.”
“You better,” Jackie mumbled. “Really didn’t feel like going back to kindergarten.”
“Well on the plus side pretty sure we can talk Lisa into taking us to see Santa.”
The three adults now smiled and sighed as they awaited their inevitable regression.