Sunday, July 24, 2005

I've been tagged by Comfort Addict to list the Five Things I Miss From Childhood. Off we go:

  1. Endless summers, school holidays and weekends - As children, our days off were so full of activities that flowed from one unrelated activity to the next, from morning until night, that they seemed to go on forever.
  2. Waking up, getting ready and being out the door in 10 minutes - I remember my mom getting up on Sunday mornings and going to 9:00 a.m. Mass so she could come home and cook Sunday dinner and my dad would go with us kids later to 11:00 a.m. Mass. Sometimes, I would hear my mom getting ready, get up, brush my hair and teeth and put on a dress and be ready to go in about 10 minutes. I now need at least an hour to create the same no-fuss effect.
  3. Sunday visiting - On Sunday afternoons, the whole family would get in the car and 'go visiting' to wherever the mood struck my parents. Sometimes we would just go riding around and end up at Rettig's Ice Cream Parlor or LaFleur's Bakery or the bread store for fresh baked bread.
  4. School - I enjoyed school, both the learning aspect and the social aspect. You don't really appreciate the fact that you have so many different relationships (best friends, casual friends, boyfriends, crushes, teachers, teacher crushes...) until you get out of school and the people contact is cut down to a few co-workers.
  5. Relatives - I really miss my grandparents and all of the relatives who have passed away. I also don't see my cousins and aunts and uncles near as often as I would like. Once everyone starts raising their own families, it's inevitable that the time spent with the extended family becomes less and less. I'm fortunate, though, that we at least spend a portion of most holidays together.

I'm tagging Jen, Bonnie and Kara and anyone else who wants to leave their answers in my comments or post them on your own blog. If you tag yourself and blog your answers, let us know in my comments.

9 comments:

Astrid said...

I wish I could be the female version of Peter Pan, say Petra Pan. I really do not want to grow up!!!!

Unknown said...

I like your list, Laurie. Thanks for participating.

Lorna said...

I love to read about the things that make other people nostalgic. They always give you such an insight into what makes them tick. Except there's nothing in your past that leads to crazed bar-hopping, addiction to blogging or fixation on wild monkey sex...should you revisit?

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Idyllic. Yessir, that's what I'd call your childhood. Idyllic. Kind of like Edenic, only a little different.

Ed said...

1. Endless summers with miles of farmland, wooded draws, ponds, etc to roam. How my mom ever found me for dinner, I'll never know.
2. My innocense. Whoever said ignorance is bliss was right on the money.
3. Playing with toys. Why is there such a stigmatism placed on 30+ adults who still like to play with legos and lincoln logs.
4. Neighbors. Now a days, everyone is so busy or so engrossed with doing their own thing, nobody has time for neighbors. The neighborhood parties of my youth among all the area farmers, were social events of the years. After a huge hog roast, the adults would play cards and talk while us boys went behind the barns to try and convince the girls to make out with us.
5. Simpler lives. Back then, there wasn't a special time for "family time" because that was all the time. These days, everyone is so busy, there is no time for family. I so enjoyed playing monopoly with my parents even if it meant that after landing on my dad's most expensive property, I had to be a "bagman" just to see how many times I could make it around the board.

Larry Jones said...

This is the second one of these I've seen today, and as I said before, it makes me so wistful that I almost can't stand it.

Rob S. said...

Thanks for this post, Laurie. It really got me thinking, so I tagged myself. Here’s my post.

Zina said...

PAW PAW Dinners and penny poker with the aunts.

TRIPS that included all of the cousins.

CRABBING with mom and Ant Gladys on the weekends at the butt crack of dawn.

And that feeling that everything was just so do or die! Now its just like , "EH...ok...sure...whatever."

Laurie said...

Astrid - I see no need to grow up.

Comfort Addict - You are quite welcome.

Lorna - One day, I'll do a Part Deux wherein I mention the music that was always playing wherever we were (Cajun, country, rock), my divorce and subsequent introduction to bar hopping by my loving siblings.

Old Horsetail - Edenic...I like that word. I think I shall steal it.

Ed - Neighbors! How could I forget neighbors.

Larry - Sometimes it all seems like yesterday, doesn't it?

Rob - Excellent!

Zina - My dear cousin. Paw-paw's dinners were the best.