The Lost Boys

I recently read Peter and Wendy because I hadn't seen the movie since I was a kid and never read the book it was based on. The book is full of wonder and adventures for Peter, the Darling children, the Lost Boys (see photo above), the Piccaninny tribe, and the pirates.

The book ends with a sad scene when Wendy is grown up and has not seen Peter for some time. Peter was to return every year to Wendy for a visit together to Neverland. But he was forgetful as all children are, and had not returned for many years. Instead it was Jane, Wendy's little daughter, who hears Peter's crowing and takes Wendy's place in flight to Neverland. Eventually, she too grows older too and it is Jane's daughter Margaret that takes her place, and so on for generations.

I haven't allowed my imagination to run in those old ways for some time. Our lives fill up with the burdens of grown-up living and playtime becomes a memory packed away in a closet with the toys of our youth.

With V, I can see a time when her great adventures will become my adventures too. I look forward to her creating worlds and characters and us all playing them out together. I'll tell her the story of Peter Pan and Wendy and we'll travel the island of Neverland with the Lost Boys. I just hope our time there isn't too short.