A MadGay Tag

The Mad Gay Housewife asks the following question: What 5 Things Do You Miss from Your Childhood? He was tagged by Crackers. I don't know if Crackers was tagged or if it's Crackers's brilliance that brought us here (and she told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on and so on...) However! Here we are. Drumroll please...

1. This is a no-brainer. The first thing I miss from my childhood is my father. The man was no saint. In fact he was a weenie. And he was my best friend, my primary parent, and protector. He always smelled good. And made us hot cocoa from scratch when we couldn't sleep. Here's to you old man.

2. Visits with my grandparents. My Mamoo and Papa, as we called them, were great to go visit. I can't tell you why. They didn't really have kids' stuff; they lived in a small, two-bedroom apartment and yet...I don't ever remember being bored. No matter how early we got up, they were already up. Mamoo cooking and Papa sitting in his chair, drinking his coffee and smoking his pipe. They had unlimited amounts of energy. Papa had this superball that would bounce forever and we would take it outside and bounce it and listen to the echos it made in the stairwell. And I collected a lot of bugs that Mamoo always seemed to have a jar we could keep them in. As I write this, I realize what a sacrifice that would have been for her. Wow.

3. Sleeping in the backseat. We would have gone out or even on a road trip and it would be late and my sister and I would fall asleep in the back. I would, inevitably, wake up at some point. The window on my father's side (which meant my side, too because I always sat behind him) would be cracked for his cigarette, classical music would be on the radio, and my parents would be talking in low whispers. It was dark and quiet and safe and wonderful. I'm not sure we ever get to feel quite that way as adults.

4. Singing at the piano with my mother (see, they're not all bad memories). We would sit and she would play and we would sing. Out of one particular songbook, especially. To this day, I still expect all the songs we sang to come from that one songbook, eventhough I know they didn't. "What Do We Do With the Drunken Sailor" was my favorite. (No comments from the peanut gallery, please. Thank you. :))

5. Christmastide. My family had a strict rule that said nothing Christmas before Thanksgivng. The Friday after Thanksgiving was fair game but nothing before then. I would sit in the big red chair with the Kingston Trio Christmas album and ache to be able to play it. Then sometime on the Friday after Thanksgiving, my mother would say "Oh, we should put Christmas music on" and it would officially begin.

There are other things I miss from my childhood. There's not much I wouldn't give to be seven again. But 35 doesn't suck, either. And you couldn't pay me enough to be 20 another time so maybe it's a good thing to remember ~ and stay where I am.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee. (but when I was a kid, I remember it was only fifty cents...)