I wasn’t looking forward to arriving at ‘K’ in this alphabet challenge until last night… in the middle of the night! What do you do when you can’t sleep? I get out of bed so I don’t wake up my hubby, go to my computer (in another room so that I can turn on a light), make myself a cup of coffee and start to read. I do most of my reading on my computer now, books or articles, because the printing is bigger and the page is brighter. Reading tends to make me sleepy, and I often sleep the rest of the night in my recliner.
When our children were young and we lived in the city, they would always make sure that there was some “Snap, Crackle and Pop” and marshmallows in the pantry, so that I could make their favorite cake, rice crispy squares. Rice Krispies by Kellogg was also the breakfast cereal of choice, and their favorite cartoon gnomes. Now, if we still like them, Kellogg has them packaged and for sale near the chocolate bars in any convenience store.
Our two children were born just 13 months apart, and both were still in grade school when we moved to the country. Their growing years took us on two different paths. Our daughter was a “groupie”, same select friends, same hair styles, same preferences in clothes, same expensive tastes. Our son worked hard at being different. He had a ton of friends, didn’t enjoy team sports, preferred motor bikes instead of horses, and had no use for the “in” labels in clothes. If the trend was T-shirts, he preferred plaid button shirts, if the hair style for guys was long hair, braids, or unkempt, he kept his hair short and well trimmed, and whatever was the ‘best’ label of the month in jeans, he preferred to shop at K-Mart. As for us, the parents, it seemed that there were far too many differences between them, and our job was to try to keep the peace.
This year, both of our children are celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary, and they now are the best of friends. Even though they live almost 800 miles apart, they keep in touch and get together as often as possible. Both have been great parents; our son and his wife are now “empty nesters”, and our daughter has three wonderful girls in their teens. They love clothes, have a constant parade of friends in their home, play team sports, and there is no K-Mart so they shop at consignment stores and Goodwill.
By the way, never once did we have a four-legged kid or the parents on our acreage. We preferred cow’s milk.
Tags: Teens Shopping Friends
