What was my mother thinking? > > > > > > My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the > > same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't > > seem to get food poisoning. > > > > My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to > > eat it raw sometimes too, our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax > > paper in a brown paper bag not in icepack coolers, but I can't > > remember getting e coli? > > > > Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake > > instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures > > then. > > > > The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail > > cell, and a pager was the school PA system. > > > > We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a > > pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having > > cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in > > light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have > > happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. > > > > Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I > > guess PE must be much harder than gym. > > > > Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson [and > > provided comic relief] by running in the halls with leather soles on > > linoleum tile and hitting the wet spot. How much better off would we > > be today if we only knew we could have sued the school system. > > > > > > Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national > > anthem and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of > > negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. > > > > I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an > > abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known what either was anyway) > > but they did give us a couple of baby aspirin and cough syrup if we > > started getting the sniffles. > > > > What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school > > nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything. > > > > I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I > > was allowed to be proud of myself. > > > > I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play > > Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. > > > > I must be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize > > through the denial of the dangers could have befallen us as we trekked > > off each day about a mile down the road to some guy's vacant lot, > > built forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made trails, and > > fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger. What was that property > > owner thinking, letting us play on that lot? He should have been > > locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete > > with a self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm. > > > > Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit > > when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! > > > > We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant > > construction sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent > > bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting > > like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to > > the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of > > antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for > > leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a > > threat. > > > > We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we > > did, we got our butt spanked (physical abuse) here too and then we > > got butt spanked again when we got home. > > > > Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for coffee, kids > > choked down the dust from the gravel driveway while playing with Tonka > > trucks (Remember why Tonka trucks were made tough .. it wasn't so that > > they could take the rough Berber in the family room), and Dad drove a > > car with leaded gas. > > > > Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I > > am sure that I nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when > > we went on two week vacations. I should probably sue the folks now for > > the danger they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the > > family tent > > > > Summers were spent behind the push lawn mower and I didn't > > even know that mowers came with motors until I was 13 and we got one > > without an automatic blade-stop or an auto-drive. How sick were my > > parents? Of course my parents weren't the only psychos. I recall Donny > > Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front > > stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could > > have owned our house. Instead she picked him up and swatted him for > > being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck. > > > > To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told > > that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have > > known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management > > classes? > > > > We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we > > didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How > > did we ever survive? > > > > LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, > > > > > > > > > > >