One of the great things about being an adult is that some of your childhood wishes can come true. Granted, I will never get to be a world-famous artist, ballerina or brain surgeon. And some of the things I wanted when I was young I no longer want- like Guess jeans or a Barbie Dream House.
Today I have used two things I wanted as a kid. Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner and a sprayer in the kitchen sink. Neither of these are shocking things but to this day I still smile a little when I use either of them. And they got me thinking about how many things I didn’t have when I was a kid and yet I turned out OK. And how I didn’t feel deprived very often as a child even with my laundry list of unfulfilled dreams.
It wasn’t until quite recently that I learned how tough things were financially during the 70’s and early 80’s for my parents. They ran a small family farm and this wasn’t exactly a good time to be doing that. As a child I didn’t know the extend of the money concerns my parents had but I did know that I wasn’t going to have everything some of my classmates had. There were times I was simply told that while it certainly was nice that Suzy’s parents could afford item X mine could not that was was the way it was. Yes, I did occasionally wish for things my classmates had. I remember being insanely jealous of another girl’s leather jacket for a while.
But my sister and I each took private piano lessons for 10 years. We each got brand new band instruments when we were in high school. There were always presents under the Christmas tree, on our birthdays and in our Easter baskets. There was always food on the table and we always had clothes and coats and boots. I didn’t have everything I thought I “needed”, but I clearly did and then some. And looking back I am glad I didn’t get everything handed to me. To this day I believe I appreciate things more because of it. Even the simple things like Scrubbing Bubbles.