Calgon, take me away...

[pen_grunt]

Things come in threes. Today I managed to bite my tongue (so hard that it bled and swelled--leaving me with an oh-so-charming lisp), burn my hand (with my morning oatmeal--enough to leave blisters), and finally, I wrecked something in the arch of my foot while running tonight.

I desperately needed a good, long, soapy, bubbly, hot bath. Which got me thinking. Most adults don't take baths nearly as often as I do now. I can only theorize that this is because baths were a treat when I was growing up--we didn't have a bath tub (or rather, we had one, but it wasn't hooked up and was usually filled with implements of construction). This got me thinking about other unusual things I didn't have while growing up (for the better, mostly). Without further adieu, the top 10 things I didn't have while growing up:

1. Baths
2. Electricity upstairs--until I was maybe eight or so (we had to leave the bathroom door open so we could see when we went, and we had to pick out our clothes the day before school to make sure they matched).
3. A finished house (you took your shoes off at your own peril)
4. Close neighbors
5. Cable TV (or decent reception on the network channels)
6. Video game systems (although we did have a Commodore 64...and it rocked my world)
7. A little brother or sister (and I really, really wanted someone to pick on :( )
8. A dish washer, a clothes washing machine, or a dryer
9. Filtered water (heh, all three women in the house were blond...and our hair used to turn orange with rust and mineral buildup)
10. Central heat/air (wood stoves still rock...)

I think I'm a better person because of what we didn't have. Granted, we "had" a lot of things, and were very fortunate, but I'm just amused at the seemingly "normal" things absent from my childhood. What was missing from your life?

Comments

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

I only vaguely remember the lack of electricity . . . I think I always thought you just didn't have lights in your bedrooms! And though I *knew* you had a wood-burning stove . . . I don't think I realized you didn't have central heat . . . weird. (That I don't remember, that is . . . )

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as I recall only my 'rents bedroom had electricity. I distinctly remember helping my dad guide wires for the other rooms at some point.

And the stove. . . when I was REALLY, really young we just had that stove in the kitchen, and a paltry basement broiler thing. Not sure when my dad installed the fancy baseboard heat.

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

I *do* remember that! You're parents' room had power, but none of the others . . .

And, without further Adieu . . .

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

Ten Things You *Did* Have . . . (that most people we know now seem to think exist only in medieval stories)

In no particular order (i.e.: Free Association)
- The Best Playground Ever . . . which is to say the ruins of what seemed to us (or maybe only to me) to be an Ancient Homestead
- Your very own crick
- A metal washtub full of 40+ baby frogs/toads & one Big, Fat, Mamma Toad
- One sure-fire way to freak out your cousin . . . the stairs to your basement (I always felt like I was going to fall through them, what with the lack of risers and the one step that was, like, half-sized)
- Asparagus (as much as you hated it)
- Your very own pond . . . which doubled as a built-in skating rink (remember when I stepped in the mud trying to snatch a cattail? *grins*)
- A bus shelter (we were the only other family I knew that even knew what one was)
- More musical instruments (working or not) than most music schools . . .
- Tar spots on your floor
- The coolest old falling-down chicken coop (and other assorted hiding spots) ever

Hmmm . . . that's ten already . . . guess I'm done for now

Ooh, wait . . . number eleven - can't forget the Trolls/Monsters/Whatever that definitely lurked behind the door to what I now know must be a crawl space in your parents' bedroom . . . endless source of late night scary stories! Score!

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

All this is very true. And I'm not saying that I didn't have a lot of stuff that other kids didn't have (like a steady $20 a week job picking beans when I was 5. . .). This is just what came to my mind whilst in the rub-a-dub-tub.

Oh, the bus shelter was an old wooden refrigerator box that my da' put a window in.

I also had a plethora of wild cats, salamanders and snakes. The one kitten YOUR parents got me for my 5th birthday ensured a steady stream of kittenage every spring. :)

I just have to add, it's a fairly traumatic (and Darwinian/educational) experience to come home and see a snake devouring your pet toad...and your dog swinging the snake up in the air--trying to "break its back."

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

LOL . . . I always knew there was something weird about the bus shelter . . . didn't know the story, though. And that was your 5th b-day? My parents felt soooo bad about Snowball . . . for a long time . . . I don't think I'd heard the Food Chain story, either . . . *gggls*

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Now why would your parents feel bad about getting me a kitty? I loved Snowball!

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and he died . . . (went blind & steril or whatever . . . ) they didn't know that blue-eyed white cats tend to do that . . . .

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

I also don't remember you making *that* much money picking beans . . . you suck!

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Well, it was $1 for a pound and a quarter of beans--and we had a whole field of them. My parents were pretty cool about it, whatever I picked I got to keep the earnings.

Child labor laws are SO overrated :)

Re: And, without further Adieu . . .

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

Pretty much . . . which is exactly why they *don't* really apply to farms . . . (though yours wasn't technically a farm, by most people's standards, it was close enough)

The luxuries that we had

[pointedthings.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember running that wiring through mom and dad's room so we had that 1 room of electricity upstairs. And you couldn't get upstairs, because there were no stairs. I'm still terrified of going down to the basement. Things could grab your legs from from where the risers are supposed to be!!! Eeeek! The multi-colored dark green linoleum in the kitchen that would completely disguise anything you spilled. Never had to sweep in there. So efficient.
The best luxury of them all: mudbaths that you never had to pay for!

Re: The luxuries that we had

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I must find that mudbath picture, digitize it, and post it to my journal :)

The no upstairs-stairs was pre-me though, although I do distinctly remember a time when there were no kitchen walls. I rather enjoyed getting to peek through the exposed studs.

Things could grab your legs from from where the risers are supposed to be!!

*raises eyebrow* Uh...like older sisters? You were so mean to me. *crosses arms*

:)

Re: The luxuries that we had

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

hmph . . . or older cousins . . . namely, my brothers. They did enjoy tormenting us.

Re: The luxuries that we had

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

ooh ooh- me too! I remember when the walls went up and your kitchen suddenly seemed so small . . .

And baths in the big sink tubs . . .

Definitely don't remember the lack of stairs, but remember hearing stories, I think . . .