The Joy of Youth

For today's poem, I followed the NaPoWriMo prompt to "compare your everyday present life with your past self, using specific details to conjure aspects of your past and present in the reader’s mind." 

The Joy of Youth
By Candace Shultz 

I watch my daughter laugh
with her friends, so carefree
and full of the joy of youth.
They drink Ramune from glass bottles
and eat Konpeitō candies we bought 
at the Japanese grocery store.

I look at my daughter,
and I see myself at her age,
sleeping over at my best friend's house,
giggling with our friends as we talked
about a boy one of us liked,
snacking on Doritos and drinking Pepsi,
playing Truth or Dare,
trying to be the last one to fall asleep.

I blink and time shifts into my older body.
The laughter of the past fades
into the laughter of today,
and I smile wistfully,
wishing I could be that girl again.
But time is fleeting,
and the past won't stay.
We can only live for the laughter of today.