grown-ups

I used to believe…

When I was a kid I thought that when people got married they would stay in their parent�s house and live in their room. I thought I was going to get married and have all my kids and I live in my childhood bedroom. I would play house all the time and tell them where I was going to put the crib.

I had never noticed kids younger than me or pregenant women until I was 13 or 14. So I thought my friends and I were always the youngest of the whole population. When we die, there would be no people on earth.

I used to believe…

When I was a little girl, like four years old, I thought you could marry anyone you wanted, including your siblings. I thought it would be easier to marry a sibling because you had known them your whole life, you knew everything about them, and you wouldn't have the trouble of getting to know somebody new. I only had sisters and no brothers, so I assumed I was out of luck, but my friend had a twin brother. I said to her, "When we're grownups, why don't you just marry him?" She explained to me that you don't marry siblings. I'm lucky she knew that, or I wouldn't have cleared it up at an early age.

I used to think marrage was just so moms can have kids and the only reasons dads did it was because the moms took care of them. When my dad left I thought it was because he didnt like my moms cooking anymore.

I used to believe…

Once my 8 year old brother came home from school very upset because one of his friend told him it was the law that when you became a grown-up you had to get married. he was almost in tears saying how he didnt want to be stuck with a dumb girl forever.

I used to believe…

When I was 5 I was driving down the m25 motorway late at night with my great nan sitting next to me in the back seat. I looked out the window and saw a blur of street lights everywhere far in the distance and asked my nan what was where the lights were? and she replied 'Thats where the Queen lives' obviously being literal as to where I was pointing towards London... Now when I'm driving on the motorway at night I always think of my nan telling me that them lights are where the Queen lives no matter where I am.. Its such a lovely memory : )

I used to believe…

When I was around 5, I used to think age was based only on the month and day of your birthday. Therefore if your birthday was July 6th, then anyone born after that day July 7 - December 31 obviously had to be younger than you.

I used to believe that a person's ethnicity was determined by tiny creatures that lived in your blood. I was afraid that if I cut myself all of mine might swim out and I would never be allowed to find my birth family.

I used to believe that people changed completely as they got older.

First, I would begin to hate cartoons, comics, toys, video games, etc. because I didn't know of any adults who liked them. The process would take about a week, during which my childish interests would be replaced by boys, make-up, clothing, shopping, etc. I would also develop a heavy valley-girl accent and, because of puberty, I would act very air-headed until my hormones had settled. (Thanks, cartoons.)

Later on I would become very dull and work-oriented, but I would be organized, neat, and well-mannered. Still, I was not looking forward to finding pleasure in political talk shows and gardening. (Though, for some reason, I really wanted to learn how to sew.)

About when I was 14 I realized this was absolutely not the case. Unfortunately, that also meant that people had to LEARN how to become orderly and mature.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I thought that criminals ("bad guys") were never kids. I thought that maybe they were put on the earth as criminals in the first place and they didn't have a choice on whether or not they wanted to be one. When I asked my mom this when I was little, she didn't bother in replying.

I used to admire the grown-ups very much. They apparently did not rest or sleep at all - working all day, spending all night having sex (as in the movies), always getting up earlier than me to prepare my breakfast... Wow! No wonder they kept telling me: Sleep while you may, when you're grown-up, you won't have the chance any more! So I slept diligently to catch up as much as I could and I feared growing up as it seemed to be so demanding. (Well, now, with two small kids, I know they were right! :-)

I used to believe…

When I was a kid, my friends and I all had kid-sounding first names, like "Billy", "Chris", or "Steve". Grown-ups had names like "Frederick", "Sherman", or "Franklin". So I thought that once you become a grown-up, you have to change your name. This really upset me, because I liked my name so much.

I used to believe that when you got old (elderly age), all of your teeth fell out and you had to get dentures. It didn't occur to me that maybe people didn't take good care of their teeth and had to have them pulled.

I used to believe that teachers lived at school.
When I was 6, my daycare teacher's husband was running for public office and they were both on TV, my mom brought this to my attention I said it couldn't be her because she was at school. LOL

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that my father knew everything. Literally. One day I was in the bath and asked him what time it was. There are no words for how shocked I was when he said "I don't know".

i used to ask when my birthday was, every year, cos i thought everyones changed and maybe i would be a year older quicker some years than others. she would tel me the same date and i would b like 'again?' but then far-too-later on i clicked and asked 'is that why its called birthdays? :)

I remember telling my mom when I was about 8 that I thought it was kind of funny that she did all the work in having me and my sister and how we werent really related to our dad because all he did was stand there when she and him got married. I couldn't wrap my head around why no one else cared that they werent related to their dads. My mom looked at me strangely before laughing and walking away.

I used to think a "con artist" was an actual type of artist, like a sculptor or something. My mom was surprised to hear that I was thinking about being a con artist when I grew up!