You Guessed It: SNOW DAY FUN!!!
Well we finally got enough snow to warrant a "snow day". :) This is our 3rd snow day of the school year, but our first accumulation of snow. The other two were due to ice and were debatable.
I received this e-mail from my cousin that I thought was appropriate for today's outing in the snow. It sure strikes a note of truth and made me reminiscent.
To Those of You Born 1930 - 1979:
To all the kids who survived the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's . . . .
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white
sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day and we were okay! We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine
that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of them,
CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.Jay Leno said:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
Now as much as I dislike forwarding emails, I just had to post this to elicit some opinions. I know some of the changes are good: being aware of the dangers of lead based
paint, discouraging moms from smoking or drinking during pregnancy, and wearing helmets, for example. But some of them make me miss those good 'ol days: riding in the back of the truck, being able to play outside without worrying about child abductions or weirdos, and the whole "parents on the side of the law" bit and what it implies about how our children our being disciplined. It certainly gave me some food for thought. Now when you couple that with the quote from Jay Leno about the natural disasters we are experiencing and needing God at this time . . . well let's just say I agree.
Friday was my first professional development day in 5 years (and they are quite different here in Missouri). Karyn had Friday off and she came for a visit. I'm so glad she was willing to babysit my girls. I'm glad my own girls can be a part of our sister activities so they can see how lucky they are to have each other. We watched the old Parent Trap (1 and 2). (Anna and Janae loved it, so they pass the old movie test.) We watched Mama Mia on the sing along setting and we all sang and danced. (Sisters-in-training passed the love of musicals test.) And we all got strep throat . . . (wait . . . what?). Okay we didn't ALL get strep throat . . . just Anna, Janae, and Daila. So I'm VERY grateful Karyn was willing to babysit. She is so fearless! Well technically she didn't know when she agreed to it. Daila had a temperature Friday morning and I just left her with a note on what to do and to call if things got worse. Saturday Janae was also feeling sick and we all went to the doctor. Strep. So now all three are taking stinky (literally) medicine. But they just say "cheers" and chug it like a shot glass. (Passed the "Going through tough times with a sister makes it easier to bear" test.) 
