Thursday, October 06, 2005
Not Such A Big Deal
When I was a kid...Yup it's gonna be one of those...I appreciated the special things in life, and it took very little for something to be special. There were 4 of us, I have one sister 3 years my senior, one sister 16 months my junior and then a baby brother, 10 years younger. We always had cloths on our back, sometimes hand me downs...but still, a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. We didn't want for much, all of our NEEDS were met and some of our wants. It was a very big deal to get a new pair of jeans when it was not christmas or a birthday, at least until I started working. A trip to Bangor, the nearest city, happend maybe twice a year. I had never stayed at a motel, eaten at a McDonalds or left the confines of Maine until I was a junior in high school (this all happened on a band trip). I went to the movie theater maybe 3 times all during high school. Going out to dinner was big treat. We never went on a family vacation, except for staying at different camps that my dad used to 'care take' for around the lake. We would go to the small county fair every August and go 'school shopping' in Bangor once a year. I would get excited and was very grateful every time my parents would 'give' me anything. Every little "extra" would make my toes tingle. I think that my childhood was fairly typical of the times for the rural area that I lived in.
My children...have been to Disney twice, have been on a cruise to the caribean, to the coast, water parks, Prince Edward Island, countless motels, cottages, restaurants ect. I really wanted them to experience "family vacation". They go to Bangor regularly. They go to the movie theater at least once a month. They each have their own car. They eat out often. They want for very little and need for NOTHING. (They do both work and have since they were old enough to get permits.) Their closets are overflowing with cloths, especially baby girl, and shoes. They have access to snowmobiles in the winter and water stuff in the summer. I am so glad that we could give them all of these pleasures, I enjoy seeing them enjoy. But it seems that there is NOTHING left that is special...exicting...new. I know that they appreciate all the things that we do for them and with them...they always say thank you and have smiles on their faces. But the more they do and have the easier it is to take it for granted...nothing excited them the way I think it should...nothing makes their toes tingle and thier tummies twitch. I think that this is normal for the times NOW, I really don't think that they are excessively spoiled, I just believe that we live in a far different society then that of 30 years ago...when the mere mention of the movie theater would have kids, around here anyway, all aflutter for days in anticipation.
I am glad that my kids have been able to experience so much in their lives I really am...but it's bittersweet because nothing is "such a big deal" any more. Times sure have changed!
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