Tagged again ... this time it's childhood

Anne tagged me this time. :) The question is five things you miss about childhood.

1. My granddads. Accurate would be the dad of my mom, cause my dad’s dad just died about three years ago. But I miss both of them.
My other granddad died the year I turned nine. I remember him as lots of fun, great to play with and how he took me for walks along the Neckar to see the locks. I know (from my mom and dad) that he had quite some peculiar habits (combing the carpet fringes :)), but that just makes him kind of more dear to me. One of my favorite pictures is my granddad in a big chair with me and my little sister, I think he’s reading to us. He was very sportive, into mountain hiking, etc. and quite good-looking.
My granddad from my dad’s side didn’t spend as much time with us (at least not weeks at a time) due to family complications, but I loved him as much. After his death we got old pictures and there he is as a young man, playing music, hanging out with friends and family, and lots of pictures with him riding horses.
I just wish there had been a time when they could have shared their memories of growing up, going through the war (as soldiers) and then building new lives after the war.

2. Norway. We lived in Oslo from 1980-1983 due to my dad’s job. It was hard moving there and I didn’t really have friends the first year. But then I started in a Norwegian kindergarten, learned Norwegian really fast and made lots of friends. In retrospect it seems to me that this was the best time of my childhood (years 4-7!). I loved it there. I loved kindergarten, being outside in every (seriously every) weather, hiking, visiting museums, playing lots of fun games, being read stories, cooking, learning how to ski and to skate, ... Lots of snow in winter, nice warm summers, playing outside with my best friends, Sunday school at the Salvation Army. I felt more like a Norwegian after those three years than a German. I still feel at home in both countries.

3. The childhood belief that everything is well. That everybody loves everybody. That your parents never disagree. That the world is a fun and adventurous place to be. Well, it is, but it’s far from the perfect image I held as a child. That everything can happen. That you can change the world (that was when I turned older and learned about poverty and street children etc.).

4. Having all the time you want for playing and reading and hanging out and cuddling ;).

5. ... I’m skipping No. 5. Although I’m sure there are more things I miss, all that comes to my mind right now is what I definitely do not miss: school from 1st-9th grade (in total we have grade 1 through 13). I did very well in school, but I was a girl, shy and bad in sports (until I started volleyball and dancing which was not until I turned 15). So on the popularity level I did not rank very high. I had some really good friends who are still my friends. But it hurts when you do not get invited to the birthdays of the “cool” kids, no boy shows any (harmless) interest in you, you get chosen last into a team in sports, etc. I know I shouldn’t have cared at that time, but the truth is I did.
Things have changed a lot. So this is past and gone, but I know that it influenced my later behavior (and not always in a good way). Well, so that’s what I don’t miss! :)

Remove the first person from the following list, bump everyone up one spot and put your name in the number 5 spot. Please link all of the blogs as they are linked now or risk future blog-shunning. (Do you think this would really happen?)

Mommy Brain
Journaling through the valley
Threefold Cord
Anne's Cafe
Sharing Life

Now, select four unsuspecting souls and add them to the list...

Firekissed
Worship Naked
Attention Span
Scribblings