grown-ups

I learned about building card houses, and I wanted to impress my dad, so I asked if he knew about them. He said, "I *invented* card houses!" and then built one. I took him literally and thought about it all the time. I wondered why he wasn't rich or famous and why we hadn't studied him in school.

I used to think that people were naturally assigned roles in life, such as being a parent or child. Thus, I didn't think anyone grew, they stayed the same way forever. I could never quite figure out why my clothes kept shrinking and I had to get more.

I used to believe…

When I was about 3 or so, I had a general understanding of what the word "law" meant, but I had never heard the term "in-laws." One day I overheard my mom on the phone with her friend explaining that I was going to spend the afternoon with her in-laws. I thought that she was going to take me to a police station or courthouse instead of driving me over to my grandparents like we had planned. She had me pretty scared for a little while!

I used to believe…

When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I knew I wanted to be both an artist, and a scientist. I thought for a moment about how to combine my prospective careers and phonetically came up with arsonist. I had no idea this meant a person who sets fires. but I blurted out in class that I wished to be an arsonist. Needless to say my parents got called in to have a little talk.

I used to believe…

My boyfriend believed, until I set him straight recently, that "mum" was a traitor for "kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night". I had to point out to him that Santa was, in fact, dad and, therefore, allowed to kiss mum.

I used to believe all adults with jobs didn't have to take care of themselves or sleep, have a house, eat, an drink. I also believed adults with jobs never got sick.

I used to think firefighter was actually firefire (fire-fire.) Because of that, I thought firefighters started fires.

i used to believe parents had to decide if they wanted boy children or girl children before they had any, because my mom had four sisters and my dad had a brother. i thought my parents broke the rules because i have both brothers and sisters.

I used to believe…

My nanna always seemed to know what was going on, specifically if I had been naughty. I once asked her, very wide eyed, how she knew all these things. Her response was that 'a little bird told her'. I was pretty litteral as a child and promptly asked her which one, she pointed to a black bird that just happened to be in her yard at the time and told me that it was him. That he was always watching me and would tell her what I had been doing.

For years my mum pointing out "nanna's blackbird is watching you." was a sure fire way of making me behave. I seem to recall that when she died (I was 7 at the time) my mum told me that the blackbird would keep carrying messages about me to her in heaven. Oddly it was really comforting and the concept of a litteral 'little bird' is still something my mum and I share a smile over to this day (23 years on).

I used to believe…

When I was a child I thought my father was so smart, I could't believe he was't the nation's president. I thought if he were, all the nation's problems would be solved in days.

I used to think that fireworks were a natural occurence that happened every Fourth of July, and that's why we always went to watch fireworks on that day. Then my parents explained to me that people were creating the fiireworks, and that only grownups were allowed to do that. So then I believed that the fireworks were kept in a box and you had to be really strong to keep them in because otherwise they'd escape at the wrong moment.

I used to believe that secretary was a person who kept all the secrets in a club or organization and was an important person in that group till I finally learned about them in school.

I used to believe…

when i was little i thought that when my mom was little she had a different name than she did when she was an adult and i asked her what her name was when she was my age and she told me that she has had the same name all her life! i would geet soooo mad!!!

I used to believe…

When I was little (4 or 5 years old) I used to believe that my mom would send me to an izolated island with dinosaurs and somebody older would replace me because i didn't believe that i was gonna grow up. I remember looking at a chair and asking myself "why doesn't the chair gain in hight also?" :))

I used to believe…

In primary school, I believed you had to marry someone from your class. My mother then told me that I wouldn't marry anyone I knew from school, that it would be someone I'd meet later in life. She was right about that for me, but two of my primary school classmates DID end up getting married.

I used to believe…

When I was young I believed that previous generations saw in black and white until color TV and movies came along.