Can you remember what it was like when the only worry you
had was whether you’d be chosen for a rousing game of Red Rover or if the
gangly boy in your 3rd grade class was going to chase you home after
school? When I was a kid my parents did
an excellent job of shielding me from any of the grown-up worries they may have
had. There was always enough food to
eat, a warm bed to sleep in and someone close by to listen to my prayers and
tuck me in at night. What more could any
kid need or want?
My friends all lived within a ½ block of my house and were
readily accessible for play. Sometimes
we would just sit in the cool clover in front of someone’s house and look for 4
leaf clovers. Sometimes we would weave
chains from the clover’s white flowers.
We’d shape them into bracelets and crowns wearing them as we searched
for the precious 4 leaf clovers. We were
never in a rush to leave because there wasn’t anyplace any more important at
that moment.
The biggest difference I see to day from when I was a kid is
that we knew we weren’t the center of the universe. I knew that my parent’s relationship came
first, then their relationship with us.
We knew we should respect our teachers the same way we respected our
parents.
Our mother didn’t chauffeur us from one activity to another
because there was only one family car.
After school we played until 5:00 then we went in to eat dinner as a
family. After supper it was time for
homework with usually one parent sitting close by to provide help if
needed. When our work was finished we
were allowed to watch TV with our parents until 8:00 and then it was bedtime. It wasn’t complicated we just knew what the
rules were and we obeyed them. Our home
was no democracy….it was a dictatorship and there was only one dictator, our
dad. He was the figurehead of the family
and he called the shots. In exchange,
we, his happy little subjects, were provided everything we needed…not wanted
and thus we learned a valuable life lesson.
The world has changed so much in my life time that I sometimes
feel like an alien visitor to another planet.
Is it just because I move slower these days that everything else appears
to be moving at warp speed? I hate to be
one of those seniors that longs for the good-ole-days but the good ole days did
feel pretty good.
3 comments:
It's like the old TV ad--our generation used up all the fun.
nope, joe has a 13 year old daughter. His world revolves around her. We eat at the dinner table as a family. I never had anyone to sit and listen to me, so i make it a priority, because i know that it is her world that i am joining, not the other way around.
I have people come in my store all of the time with children who do the family guy "mom, mom, mom.....". The mom is just as deaf as she can be or better yet she is on the phone. I want to scream at her that if she pulled her head out and paid some attention to her child, he or she wouldnt be saying mom 51 times. It always makes me wonder why people even had children. My clock has probably ticked because i spent 6 years with an impotent narcissist because i made a commitement before god, family and friends.
I just dont get people.
TJ....Sweetie....I got so deaf to the word "MOM" that my kids started calling me by my first name. Seems I answered to Dani. Mothers (any mother) isn't perfect. We get pulled in a million directions and sometimes we just long for blissful silence. Yours was an unusual situation to say the least. Your mom just didn't get the mom gene. Not her fault, not your fault, just the way it was. You can be a great friend to your step daughter. You can be anything you want to be!
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