I am sure like me, there have been times when you have wondered what difference might have been made to your life, if your younger self had been gifted with the experience and knowledge you have accumulated over the years.

I invited several friends from the writing community to share their thoughts on this subject which I am sure you will enjoy as much as I did.

Today author Alex Craigie shares some of her childhood escapades and encounters with nature, and how a regret still remains with her 47 years later.

If I knew then what I know now by Alex Craigie

There are countless things that I know now that I didn’t know then. With hindsight, most of them were trivial and inconsequential.

As a very young child there were more mysteries in life than answers. Clouds, beards, mirrors –all were beyond the comprehension of someone so unfamiliar with the world.

When I became a toddler, my knowledge came through human responses. Playing in the sink with my rubber duck was fine; playing with it in the toilet bowl wasn’t. Running around the garden in the altogether was perfectly acceptable; removing my clothes in the street, less so. The pictures I drew with my wax crayons were crooned over, but no one appreciated the colourful mural in the sitting room. When I sat in a field with my faithful collie companion to share some sheep poo, the response was as rapid as it was unexpected.

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