Apr 17, 2009
22 Things I Wish Carried Over From Childhood Into Adulthood
A guest post by Stephen Altrogge
1. Laughing at the same joke 15-20 times in a row (particularly if the punch line involves the word “booger”)
2. Wearing a fanny pack without embarrassment
3. Fighting with pillows
4. Thinking it’s normal to wear sweatpants all day every day
5. Experiencing “Lucky Charm” euphoria
6. Getting rewarded for doing house chores
7. Owning matching “Star Wars” pajamas, pillow case, and sheets
8. Not having an email address
9. Getting so excited about my birthday that I can’t sleep
10. Stating my age in precise terms (e.g “I’m seven and a quarter years old)
11. Receiving exuberant applause for minor accomplishments, such as learning to use a toilet
12. Eating an entire box of Whoppers without experiencing any serious side effects
13. Watching Saturday morning cartoons…all day
14. Getting cold, hard cash every time I lost a tooth
15. Being proud of the fact that I was gaining weight
16. Having only one goal for the entire day: reach level 17 in “Duck Hunt”
17. Reading books like “The Boxcar Children” and “The Hardy Boys”
18. Wishing I was one of “The Boxcar Children” or “The Hardy Boys”
19. Knowing that Santa Claus isn’t real but not being allowed to divulge the secret to uniformed children
20. Spending all my disposable income on a single item, such as a G.I. Joe
21. Imagining myself as various heroes – Superman, Batman, Martin Sheen
22. Being fully convinced that I would be an NBA star because I could dribble between my legs
I still do 5, 9, and 21 (with the exception of Batman).
I think deep down inside, I still do #22. Even though I sprained my foot running playing pick up ball a few weeks ago. (and I’m 5’8″ and overweight. but who’s counting?)
Ha~ha! That is a great list! :-) My son is reading The Hardy Boys series and always talks about them as if they are real! He gives us the details of every new adventure. :-) And, my daughter is reading The Boxcar Children! :-)
Great list! Makes me smile just to think about.
I still remember the heartbreak when I discovered that the Hardy Boys books were written by multiple authors under one pen name.
I think often about the time I wore a fanny pack…24 years ago. Stephen, I don’t know where you live, but they are strangely popular here. I was stunned when we first moved here. It’s kinda Napoleon Dynamite-ish….
Dude. I used to rock the sweatpants too. All day, every day. Comfort is king!
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Now I want to be a kid again.
#19 — wait, so do you now believe in Santa Clause? Or, do you tell unsuspecting children that he’s fake?
Haha, I am totally with you on 16-18. Duck Hunt is probably one of the best video games ever and the Boxcar Children series rocks!
Wow! What a great list! Made me laugh.
9 was my favorite- I also used to get so excited about the first day of school that I couldnt sleep.
1. Drinking massive amount of kool-aid
2. Receiving a weekly allowance
3. Spending my allowance the day I got it to buy comic books.
4. Begging my parents to buy me basketball cards because I already spent my allowance.
5. Eating out with my folks and trying new foods.
6. When the sun went down it meant the day was over.
7. Pretending to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
8. Having action figures that were broken because they have been through so many of “my battles.”
9. No Bills.
10. Not being able to go to sleep because of Christmas.
11. Having competitions with my twin brother who knew more about Jurassic Park or Star Wars
12. If it were socially acceptable to bring my Sonic the Hedgehog lunch box to work with me.
13. Everything was a race.
14. Being excited to cook my own food.
15. Saturday morning Cartoons
16. Family movie night
17. Candyland
18. Convincing myself I was going to be tall enough to play in the NBA.
19. Looking for dinosaurs
20. Nerf Wars
21. Eating as many cookies and brownies as I wanted and never had the fear of what it would do to my body.
22. How easy it was to forgive.
13.
The Boxcar Children series was the bomb.com.
What is it with those uniformed kids anyways?
Ha ha. Great list, but are you still losing teeth? (#14)
Great list, except maybe the fanny pack. Maybe I just need to be more open to the idea, though. :)
Those Boxcar Children. What would childhood be without them? How do those who didn’t have them deal with sucha great deficiency in their lives?
It would be nice to have no email. I thought before about how many email addresses I have had (and I wasn’t one to change it often, some people change it so many times) and how there are all these email names floating around, probably with newsletters still be sent faithfully to those boxes.
Hey, it’s no minor accomplishment to learn how to use the toilet…especially with twins!
I SO wish the fanny pack would make a come back. They were so useful. I would wear it to the gym.
Be thankful that you have become aware of the very real and appropriate shame associated with fanny packs.
Nice post!
One day, No. 11 will become “demanding exhuberant applause for minor accomplishments like re-learning to use the toilet.
Oh, the blessings and burdens of old age.
I LOVE reminiscing about my childhood. Here’s my list!
http://tinyurl.com/ch4weu
The Hardy Boys.
That series riveted me from about six to 10 years old.
I was Frank, my brother was Joe, and our portly friend was Chet.
Yeah, we acted it out.
The healing power of a kiss from mom or dad when injured.
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JoeS: Great. Thanks. I lived my entire life without knowing that fact, and now you ruined my day.
#12. Definitely.