When I Was a Kid Party for the Kid in all of Us!

Good job Soph. I tend to want to stick with the non-family members also. More joy that way.

Family is fine for the most part but there can be a time when letting go is the only path option. I have found that life is much simpler when we don't try to make something of what doesn't really exist. My extended family is so much easier to keep close to the heart.

That is a funny one Jackie and something I might do. Your husband sounds like a riot. You better watch that guy.

I think the more spirited you are as a kid the happier you are as an adult. I was continually getting spankings and lectures up until I was around 13 years of age. I got sent to California to stay with my sister for the summer and from being the scrappy farm kid to hanging around the city I learned quite a bit. I was basically undercover by the time I started high school and didn't exert my butt kicking talents unless forced and only by using words. I discovered being soft spoken was a great weapon against bullies. No one really messed with me but they also didn't mess with others when I was around. It felt mighty good to tell the truth.

My boy was a teen and came home and announced that he was no longer friends with someone he'd been hanging out with for a long time. I asked him why he broke the friendship off and he told me the other boy was stealing stuff and taking drugs. Out of curiosity I asked him what kept him away from such temptations and he replied, "You always know what I'm doing so I'd get busted if I tried, not that I want to try" LOL He's also the one that said after I asked him if he'd drank alcohol at a New Year's Party he'd attended and he said, "Yeah, I had a Kahlua and cream drink but I decided that I'm a big enough ass hole as it is so I don't need enhancement". I was lucky my kids would let it all out with me and really happy they thought I already knew.

I forgot to tell you Tony dear.

Well what do we expect when we hung out in Mom's womb for 9 months. The connection was created early on and the bond just put it in place.

We have to communicate with that wiggly human the minute it takes its first breath. It is really hard not to get to know them well.

Being a single mom I was on hyper alert due to being the only parent on site. I would be doing some task and know just what the two youngest were doing. Often I'd get chewed out (respectfully) due to my habit of reading their thoughts and verbally answering them. I only knew they hadn't said a word when I received the "Grrr" look and "Mom, don't do that". My bad.

JJ you were one righteous kid that's for sure. Life was the good the bad and the ugly sometimes.

My boy wanted to name his soon to be brother (he hoped) Chester after his teddy bear. When the baby ended up being female we named her Jessica. I told him it was the closet I could come to "Chester" and he bought it. He renamed teddy "Chessette". Teddy's are important after all. So his sister was given a matching teddy. She named hers "Cocoas" and one day her brother made her mad while she was in charge of both teddies. She dropped Chessette in a puddle and said it was an accident but later fessed up that she did it on purpose. Brother was disgruntled.

Yowzer I didn't get the computer bug until 1989. My first was a commodore Amiga 500 then I switched to Mac and now I'm running a PC. You are light years ahead of me in computers but I had plenty of teddies. My youngest was typing 16 wpm at age five using Mavis Bacon! LOL

Luckily for me I'm not even a bit interested in games and the only one I ever played was Tetris. Twelve years is a pretty long dry spell. I had to use the computer as I had a Publishing house for children 5-11 years of age. That kept me very busy along with designing and other graphics. Kept me out of trouble I guess. :)

Thanks JJ children are an inspiration that's for sure. I truly enjoyed assisting them in writing and illustrating. They were always very creative.

That's great keith. I think we've all done something similar and later on in life go "OMG really?"

Oh Enoch that is an adorable story. You have a very smart boy.

Enoch does he set his own hours now? It sounds to me like you have a very sweet family going on.

I was up at 4:30 am StevG! Don't ask as I have no clue why I was wide awake at the hour unless it was to watch the moon set. That was nice.

You could be right as he did look quite pleased with himself when I opened the bedroom door. He also pretended he was starving to death.

He has a tough routine. He talks pats my leg for attention eats sleeps He talks pats my leg for attention eats sleeps He talks pats my leg for attention eats sleeps He talks pats my leg for attention eats sleeps gets a good massage and goes to bed for the night.

That how we were as kids too only we got the "belt" or rather I got the "belt". My own did not receive spankings and would beg me to ditch the lectures and paddle them.

You and your siblings most likely had more fun than any kid could have that had more than you.

IndependentAmerican I remember the summer "butch" haircuts and how some people were so disgusted especially the Moms. I was glad I was a girl. Pop cut the toes out of our outgrown oxfords we'd worn to school and these were our sandals. I loved those times I never gave a rip about what others thought of me. That took years to take hold but didn't last long. In seventh grade some of the eighth grade girls came up to me one day and said, "You'd be pretty if you cleaned up a bit" and I thought why would I want to do that? I was still catching frogs and digging in the dirt trying to make it to China. Fluffy was not in my vocabulary yet.

I didn't get all the way to China either because I had to become a "Lady"! LOL

It wasn't me keith but the "Digging to China" fan club has always been huge.

Aloha Evelyn, I think it is hard when you have a lot to face as a child. I lived in an area where some families were very poor and people made fun of them. I didn't like this so I stuck close to those that were picked upon. In my day even the teachers were often unfair to disadvantaged students. As the youngest I got picked upon a lot especially by my brother so since I did not like this treatment at all I didn't want it happening to others. Thanks for your story and I'm happy you stood up for yourself.

I just wish everyone would do this now because we'd have a lot more fun. One of my fb friends was a freshman when I was a senior and remembered how I wouldn't let the upper upperclassman pick on the freshman. That made me feel great. It didn't hurt that I was one of the most popular students but championing everyone was how I got popular. :)

Adam, lighten up and think positive and maybe you'll get a job. With your attitude and inappropriateness I doubt if anyone would want to hire you anyway. If you cannot come to an article and know what is going on then you might want to go back to school. Just some friendly advice.

FINutmegger you are so right. When I saw the post it did make me laugh. People wonder why they are viewed as being not quite up to normal IQ but the way they behave makes us want to pity them. I think the Coffee growers are hiring bean picking so that might be a tip for Adam to find a job. I wasn't aware it was my task to create jobs. I'd better get on the stick don't you think?

Thanks FINutmegger for coming around and immediately seeing that this article is just for fun. I think having fun is still legal.

That's what I was thinking too JJ. I wanted to be a bit rude in my response but knew he'd expect this then cry like a baby cuz someone was mean to him. I certainly wouldn't want to work with whiny baby that's for sure as I've been there done that and have that whole collection of hats, t-shirts, mugs, key chains, bumper stickers and ash trays.

Anyway js, I'm not much of a fun kid party person cause my kid time wasn't very fun, but one of the things it did do was make me a BIG protector of people who were picked on, and a good mom who never physically punished my children! ♥

We ended up basically the same although my childhood was pristine compared to yours. Those were days when people were often cruel to their children and each other. I guess they still are and this is why we choose the champion the abused. I told myself if I came out of a horrific situation alive then I survived.

I spent most of my adult life surrounded by children FINutmegger and it was the most rewarding endeavor I could ever have asked for. I began tutoring children with disabilities in third grade in the early 50's. The teachers didn't seem to pay much attention to these children and I guess thought they weren't worth teaching. That truly jacked up my desire to make sure every human felt as if they had worth which they do of course. I think if we were tougher on abuse we could break some cycles but as it is people are still taking their anger and hostilities out on each other. There needs to tougher laws for child abuse however as children need to grow up feeling valued and loved.

Not too bad for kids who were dirt poor during the Depression and of Indian (Cherokee) heritage, eh?

I believe many of us were thought to be "dumb" due to poverty or different race from the White Christian Male. It was just what people did in those days. If you were white and poor it was said you came from the wrong side of the tracks. People were so stinking cruel in those days at times. Those with less than I had struggled all of the time with bullying and criticism. We didn't have much but we did well with what we had. Dad worked at the steel mill and we owned our 11 acre farm. We weren't rolling in dough but we ate well by raising our own meat fruits and vegetables. I had a friend whose father abandoned the family and he, his twin sisters and mom lived in an old chicken coop for a while. I sat behind him in class and flies liked him a lot. The kids teased him of course but we played together at recess and ignored the thugs. I went to a high school reunion when I was 48 years old and he was there. The first thing he said to me after our greeting is that he still treasures my friendship from a time when others would have nothing to do with him. Wow, what a beautiful gift he gave me. I didn't care if he was scubby and smelly because most all of us were in those days. Just because he lived in a chicken coop didn't make that much difference or shouldn't have for kids that only got to bathe once a week and since I was #4 I got the dirtiest bath water. We survived and thrived though so that's all that counts in my book.

Thanks for accepting my friend invitation.

It is just amazing isn't it? We had so much fun being kids and for me there were plenty of chores to do along with school. It didn't phase me however as being outside was what I wanted as much as possible. By the time I was eleven my oldest sister went into the Navy so I added to my indoor/outdoor chores was cooking meals for the family and I liked that too. Two years later the second sister went into the Air Force so I got her chores because my brother didn't do "woman's work". When he decided to play football or other sports I had to take over his outdoor chores. My mom was the type to gripe and moan about chores and criticize but my dad whistled while he worked and I took that attitude so I scored big time.

You win Keith! There were only 4 of us thank goodness.

I still share a room with my daughter now and then. Her stuff is piled everywhere as she kept coming back from living with her boyfriend. He doesn't like me so I don't see her much or talk to her on the phone. I do need to find out when she's getting her belongings however because she can't come back unless she's going to stay as it costs too much in more ways than just moola! I do like having my own room however and hope I have mine to myself soon.

I'll bet you did see that home a heaven. We had a farm house with wood heat. No heat in the bedrooms and no insulation in the walls. We were up high enough we got plenty of snow in the winter time so ice would form inside of our bedroom windows. The pipes would freeze so we'd have to use the outhouse until they thawed. Actually we didn't seem to mind all that much. We had a wood burning stove in the kitchen along with an electric range. We were living high compared to many of the families in the neighborhood. Some had no running water or inside plumbing for years. The ate raccoon and opossum so I thought our abundance from what we raised was amazing. My dad was a cowboy and went through years of having next to nothing so he was one resourceful man. Lucky us!

I understand that you would have control issues and rightly so. I was last in line for everything so I think that is why I've never cared much about possessions. Out of the four of us I was the only one capable of looking around me and seeing the conditions of others before feeling sorry for myself. I had plenty of examples. There were a couple of kids in elementary school that were spoiled and had a lot of toys and privileges. I liked them well enough but never felt resentful for what they had as they weren't very content so I figured having a lot wasn't what made us happy.

Like you my kids were the biggest treasure I'd ever received. We had so much fun together as a family. Being a single mom suited me well. For a long time my daughter and I shared a room and the computer was in there with us. After school that's were we all would congregate. My boy would be on the computer while my daughter practiced her violin and I would play my flute to her music. We usually had some critter in there with us. There was always a cat or two and a cage with either hamsters or mice. We also had a couple of rabbits for a while. We also brought home the animals from school for the holidays. Thinking about now cracks me up as I can't believe we were crammed into that small space but it was always big enough for us.

It is wonderful to transcend from hard times to a good life and I'm so happy I was a survivor and I'm sure you feel the same. Of course our kids appreciate this too.

oldtincan it sounds like you are really busy having fun. This is wonderful news. Keep us posted and we'll touch base after the weekend.

No letter yet but the mail hasn't arrived today. I never know how many days it takes to send a letter but usually not more than 5 days.

I'll tell cobalblue "Hey" for you for sure.

My elbows are sore just thinking about fiddling for ten hours. lol

OTC your post is so delightful and you sound like you are having the time of your life. That wee banjo picker sounds like a dream. I've seen many very young artist and they bring tears to my eyes they are so beautiful. I'm glad kitty is set for another day alone. Does the cat bug you when you finally return from you fun? Tucker tells me every little detail of what went on while I'm gone.

Once in a while there is a troll or a silly that comes round. I don't mind at all however unless they are nasty trolls. The one here is funny I think and only hit and run so that's fine with me. I still can't remember where I put all of those jobs he said I had. lol

Have a great day and I'll catch you later!

Each night I go out to photograph the sunset. Tucker follows me to the door and when I return he's still right there. When he arrived from the Mainland he thought he could go outside but the road is too heavily traveled and this is just not a suitable place for him to roam. There are many feral and abandoned cats around and he likes them a lot but I don't want him to mingle. Once in a while he will invite one to hang with him on the lanai and that is a very sweet sight. Of course when they see me they take off. The Lanai is six feet off the ground at the lowest level but these cats climb trees, walk around on the roofs of houses so our lanai is a piece of cake to scale.

Great Tony I'll be right over.

That's impressive Dawn and quite an adventure. I take it those days have passed? What did that experience do to change you if it did? I know that each of mine have molded me a bit more to where I wanted to be. Thanks for sharing.

I am a very optimistic personality type so it wasn't until my mid-thirties that I realize how resilient I was. Growing up I paid close attention to my surrounds and how other people reacted and perceived their lives. My sister came to live with my daughter infant son and I and the contrast of our outlooks was shocking to me. We were raised on a farm and were a very modest income family but we had everything we needed and wanted in my eyes. In her eyes it was hell. I've continually wondered how some humans become so domesticated they end up cranky discontent and rarely satisfied. Instead of seeing the beauty of life and what surrounds them they only focus upon what is a nuisance. So I guess what I learned from my early life is to forget about the petty stuff and focus upon the necessary but have as much fun doing it as possible.

What a great story oldtincan. You were mean? I just cannot imagine you being mean. Some of the crazy stuff we did as children is amazing and cracks us up now. I think it is very important to remember as when we are older and see some kid act out we aren't so judgmental.

I think StevG and Soph's party numbers are amazing and make me so happy. I'll join you soon.

USPS isn't too slouchy most of the time. I gave up having a book club as the books got stuck in California and never left. I'd e-mail them and they'd send the order again and it would show up in a timely fashion. Then a few weeks later the stuck order would arrive and I'd have to send that one back. After the third try I just said forget it. Besides the company charged way too much for postage when they could have sent a bunch of books for under $10.