| On this page I will try and give you the proper perspective on the different upbringing I had as a child fiftyseven years ago compared to bringing up a child in the ninties. Back in the fifties when I was growing up things sure were a lot different then today. Try and tell that to your children and you get told "What did you live in the stone age"?. Well maybe it seems like the stone age to them, but to me it was a time of joy and a time of sadness. The joy was growing up in a time and age where you went to school just to learn and have fun. Not like today where there are metal detectors, random locker searches and bomb threats. When our son was little he loved going to school, but as he got older it was oh no!
I had a wonderful time in school right from kindergarten up to my graduation in the sixties. (my son says where did you go to school? A redbrick schoolhouse on the prarie?. Well some information about myself and my upbringing as a child. My Mother God rest her soul was a very strict person. I didn't realize until later in life that she was abusive. She used to whack me with a coal shovel (the small one used for fireplaces and stoves. She also abused me mentally by calling me names and embarassing me in front of my friends. I do in my heart forgive her. My Father who has also passed on was a peach and I was the apple of his eye. He used to call me Butch because I did act like a tomboy, climbing trees and the like. I could always count on him for anything. I dearly miss my dad. I got married to a wonderful man in 1969. He owned and operated a service station.(we called them gas stations in my days). We had a son in 1972 he weighed in at 9lbs seven ounces. He was nicknamed Thunderbolt because his dad was nicknamed Lightening. (Because he was so sloooow). My husband died in April of 76 when our son was only four years old. I had three brother-in laws two were married and the youngest one was single. I first met my youngest brotherinlaw when I got married to his brother in 69. He always told me I should wait to meet his younger brother. Well as it turned out I married his younger brother in 76. Here is the best part as Jack Palance used to say "believe it or not" Before I was married a girfriend and I went to a fortune teller and she told me I would get married, but my husband would pass on and I would marry my brotherinlaw. Talk about weird science. Frank my present husband of the last 25 years the 19th of this month says he believes in spirts and angels, but not so sure of fortune tellers. Our son Jerry who is now 31 really loves Frank. After all Frank is the only real father he has known since he was four years old. Now he can say my father is also my Uncle and my Godfather. It was Jerry who started calling Frank Dad. We explained to him all about his real Dad and how it came to be that Frank was now his stepfather. But even now Jerry will get really angry if anyone refers to Frank as his stepdad. Well enough about me and my life now. Back to comparison lifestyles of the rich and not so rich. Did you ever tell your kids that line when I went to school we didn't have etc....? Well they sure don't want to buy that line. Nowadays if it doesn't say Nikki, AirJordan, Bum, etc...well you get the idea. I wore PF Flyer sneakers at two bucks a pop. They had to last for at least six months. And forget about any brand name. It was the cheaper the better. Well I get told things cost more today then in the Flintstone era. That's true, but you don't have to spend a fortune to advertise a big name. There still are plenty of bargains out there if you look. The response to that is "But mom all my friends are wearing them" Well my response was "Get a job and buy them yourself". Hi I'm back again. If we all gave in to our kids demands we would be broke. But Frank and I always tried to make sure our son got what he wanted within reason. You remember when you were a kid if your mom said no you always tried the old switcharoo ask dad. Well I admit I did that alot. Our son has done that also. Did we set a bad example? I think not. When Jerry was small he was into the I want batman stuff faze.
Click on thumbnail to see big picture. Well Frank and I made sure he got lots of batman stuff including figures the famous batmobile etc. As a matter of fact Frank still likes to watch the old batman shows (the ones with Adam West and Burt Ward). Now they have the Batman movies with fantastic special effects and whatnot. Payback for Mom and Dad. Jerry has bought us three of the new batman vidieos. We watch them once in awhile, but they are still not as good as the original series. By the way I read in TV Guide where the cast of the original batman are going to get back together to do a movie. Sounds great hope it's a good one. Next comes cooking. I never was a great cook, but I did ok. Except for what Frank and Jerry call my "salt water" wimpees. Ya I kept forgetting I put salt in them and added more. Then of course I made a dish of hamburger helper one night. Both Frank and I thought that it was awful. Jerry and our dog liked it. As a matter of fact if you had something you didn't want to eat Jerry ate it. Remember the old commercials give it to mikey. Well in our house Jerry was mikey.
Well Frank taught Jerry how to cook since he was kneehigh to a grasshopper. It sure paid off since later in his life Jerry had several jobs cooking in major fastfood and bigger type eateries. As with all kids Jerry played the if mom says no ask dad. Well we were wise to that game so it didn't work. As he got older he did give us some trouble on his way to his teenage years. Once he told his dad that he thought his allowance was too little because a friend of his got $20.00 a week. Frank asked Jerry's friends father and he said no way. He gets the same as Jerry. Well you can't blame a kid for trying. Haven't we all at one time or another? Vidio games was all the rage back then, remember Atari? You guessed it Jerry got one for Christmas,but Frank and I played with all day while he was in school. My favorite games were pacman and pingpong. Frank says I must have been a pinpong con artist. I always seemed to win. Jerry on the other hand was excellent at all the games. He would go a mile a minute and beat Frank and I all the time.
This page hosted by  Get your own Free Home Page |
