Its not the same for everyone

A while back, I was talking with my mom and some how our conversation turned to mice and mice traps. I told her I could never use the sticky pads because they are just mean and inhumane and make me feel bad for the mouse. This feeling is made worse by the fact that I had mice as pets when I was little.

At this point in the conversation, my mother looked at me confused. She had no recollection of it.

When I was younger, my mom worked at The University of Nebraska Medical Center in the research department. She worked with mice and rats on a daily basis.

*Side note: I went with her to work a couple times and during one trip she showed me how you humanely kill a mouse...you put a pen or object behind its head and pull its tail to break its neck. I was like 6. This may explain things about me...

Anyway, in one shipment of mice, there arrived a pregnant mouse. I guess they couldn't do testing on pregnant mice, so my mom brought her home. We created a cage for her and allowed her to have her babies. I remember there being 10 all together, but time could have created that number...regardless, there were many of them and my brother and I played with them just as you would a hamster. It was fun. My brother and I would sit in a straddle facing each other and play with the mice in the middle of us. We'd create obstacle courses and everything!

Eventually they grew up and my mom said we had to do something because they would soon start mating with one another.

We let them out in the forest of the park down the street. It was bitter sweet. I'm pretty sure I was over it rather quickly.

The point is, I have many distinct memories of this time. My mother has none. How odd.

Its Fine.

When my brother and I were younger, we'd come home from school and make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. Then we'd eat half the dough...raw. Then we might cook the remainder for our parents. We LOVED this.

I also remember distinctly riding in the back of the pick up truck numerous times. We used to car pool to school on days we had choir or band or whatever and sometimes when it was my mom's turn to drive we would have to take the truck and pile in the back...there was a topper, but it was just wide open back there. We were always told to sit close to the front or on the sides though. I also very vividly remember getting sick one morning after going out to brunch and on the way home from Omaha I had to ride laying down in the back of the truck because I'd throw up if I was sitting up.

In the good old days, my friend Ali and I would get on our matching bikes and ride around the neighborhood for hours. If it was a hot summer day, we'd wiggle in our swim suits and stop at all the houses watering their lawn and run thru the sprinklers. It was the best. We also would stop at the ditch and swing into it on the branches of the willow tree that hung over it. (That is until someone new moved in and yelled at us!)

The point is, I did all this and more and am still alive to tell about it.

Parents today don't let their kids do that. They don't get to go out and just play. Everything is scheduled. Parents are too worried about their kids getting sick, or fat, or abducted to really let them do anything fun or spontaneous. It makes me wonder what this generation will grow up to be like... I hope I won't be like that as a parent. I hope I remember what its like to play in the backyard until it got dark, to ride bikes all afternoon and to just have time to be a kid.

Mall Madness

Sometimes its the small things that remind me I'm getting older.

I went to the mall today to return some stuff and really just waste some time. This is something I used to do ALL THE TIME as a child. I lived up the street from the mall and whenever I'd get bored, I'd call up a friend (usually Katie or Michelle cuz they were my best friends and close in distance) and we'd walk down to the mall. Yup, walk. We started this when we were like 10.

Generally, we'd start by cruising through Target and then head out into the actual mall to do some sight seeing. If it were Katie and I, you could almost guarentee that we'd be in Dillard's or Deb's for some time trying on Prom Dresses. Yes, this is how we spent our childhood Saturdays! It was thrilling. I loved getting dressed up in the silky smooth dresses that always made me feel pretty. I'd try on a million different types each time. I never tired of it. When we were younger, we obviously didn't do the Prom Dresses, just all the fun clothes we knew we'd never get our parents to buy for us. I always felt elated during and after these events.

The afternoon usually consisted of a stop at the food court for maybe some crab rangoon or a soft pretzel also. We'd wander around until we were bored or tired and then begin our trek home.

Ahhh...those were the days.

So, like I said, today I went to the mall to waste some time. I walked in and out of a bunch of stores but tried nothing on except some lotion. I got tired quickly and was disgruntled with the fact that I didn't have the money or the body to get the clothes that looked exciting anymore. I sat down for a pretzel, but it wasn't the same without a friend to share it with.

While I really wouldn't want to live through jr high and high school again, I do miss some of the things that came with that time period. The thrill of just trying things on. The enjoyment of an afternoon spent with a best friend doing nothing productive.

Can you tell I'm having an "I don't want to grow up!" day?