I was innocent. And I was naive! Very naive! And I had happy moments. I did play outside, even if only when we were on our family summer holidays, always in that same little village by the sea. I was a tomboy who spent all morning in the water and run on my bike with the guys all afternoon and played Asterix (we loved the role play, I was the chief's wife, possibly the only point my femininity would be hard to escape) and stayed on the beach almost until midnight, until the sand would feel cold under our bare feet and we could not keep our eyes open anymore... Yet, we would complain anyway when told it was time to go to bed :)
And I was positive and sociable and hopeful and, though I loved to play, I would not "play games", not even when the "game" with the boys started, very late admittedly in my case. No. I was honest, always followed the rules and could never stop saying exactly what I was thinking! I was a kid. And if I could remember more often how it was to be a kid, if I could mentally recreate today, in my 40s, that sense of simplicity and innocence and honesty and belief in all that's good and that everything will be ok eventually, oh, wouldn't that be so much "better than shoes"!!