Five Things

Five Things

I got tagged roughly 19 years ago by Len, and am just now getting around to putting my reply to paper. I read it when he sent it to me, and I've read it on a few other sites. I've put a little thought into it. Here goes:

What Five Things Do I Miss From My Childhood?

1. Maybe it says something about a trusting nature, but I miss the feeling that grownups know their stuff. I remember the feeling as a kid that if I didn't know the answer to a question, or didn't know how to do something, there was a grownup nearby who would know.

I miss the feeling on a couple of levels. Somewhere around the seventh grade, I ran across a really dipshitty history teacher whom I could run circles around mentally. And that's not tooting my horn. Most seventh graders could run mental circles around this woman. But that was the first grownup that I said to myself "I'm smarter than this person...."

And I miss the feeling from the standpoint that ostensibly, at 28, I am a grownup. We all know this is not true. But to my younger self, I'd think 28 would work as "grown up." And I know at 28 all that I do not know. But what's more, I know that I'm doing okay in the brains department...at least I'm doing better than some.

2. I miss the general lack of responsibility. I miss my responsibilities being little more than making sure my room's clean and my laundry's done.

3. As a guy who's trying to continue his education, I miss the whole school being free thing. I miss the whole "free textbooks" thing. I miss that there was a big bus that came by the house, and that they gave you lunch for a buck. I think a lot of college type people might feel this way.

4. I miss Saturday morning cartoons. I stole this answer from Len, but realized he's right. Kids haven't had that for ten years, now, have they? Any other day of the week it was a chore to drag me out of bed any earlier than 7, but I was up at 5:30 on Saturday to watch the Three Stooges, and then five or six hours worth of cartoons. It was couch potato-ism at its very best.

5. I miss the irresponsibility of a vacation. I remember a family vacation was simply me being dragged along for the ride. It was all gravy. Got to go on a trip. Got to sleep in a hotel. Got to eat at restaurants (any other time of the year, we went out once, maybe twice a month). And I was just along for the ride.

Now, if I go anywhere, I have to contend with the driving chores, the hassle of finding lodging, eating the same restaurant mess every day and having to pay for the whole deal.