When I was younger, my brother and I used to play in our family living room, deemed “The Big Den” by the two of us. The Big Den was our world. We were in the Amazon river, on ice bars in Antartica, and inside volcanoes in Hawaii as we jumped from one sofa cushion to the other, saving the world.

Typically around St. Patrick’s Day, we would lay on the carpeted Big Den floor, facing the ceiling, imagining that the faded footprints and handprints on our wooden panel ceiling belonged to a leprechaun.

In reality, the carpenters who installed the ceiling had most likely left accidental prints while its planks were still on the ground, but my brother and I continued to relish in our childhood imagination for many years every St. Patrick’s Day. We laughed as we pictured our leprechaun standing upside down on the Big Den ceiling, and we proudly showed all of our friends how magical our house was to have such a creature dance on our ceiling.

Nowadays, I’m in college during the most of the month of March. The magic that we get now comes in the form of a canceled class or our favorite meal being served in the dining hall. While I do love some good salmon, St. Patrick’s Day is often used as an excuse to party, and when I come home for Spring Break, the prints on the ceiling are almost completely faded away.

The kind of childhood wonder my brother and I possessed fades with age, but I don’t say that to discourage you. The curiosity and experiences that have come into my life because of it have shaped me in a unique way that textbooks can not.

Always make time to study outside and look up at the clouds. Climb a tree. Buy as many Reese’s as you want. Crack open your favorite board game every once in a while.

If our childhood was a rainbow, we spent it experimenting with fiery reds, pastel blues, and bright greens. As we grow up, we begin to see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The colors have faded, but the shine will last forever. As this month goes by, and this year, and the one after that, you’ll always have that piece of your childhood, and your imagination, saved up with you.