I wish my childhood was described by the popular GenX memes going around.
Yes, my siblings and I (there was a crew of us) were sent outside for reasons that boiled down to “I said so,” even on hot summer days that bordered on unlivable. Yes, we drank from the water hose, and, yes, we spent a lot of time unsupervised. We more or less raised each other through the 80s. But the only time we got to spend with friends was at school or church, we weren’t technically “latchkey,” seldom had to cook our meals, and we were never “free range.”
There were 7 of us, born in batches across nearly 17 years. Two children (a boy and a girl), a five year gap, two more children (boy, boy), a three year gap, then three more children (girl, boy, boy) spaced at oddly regular two-year intervals. We were born up and down the East Coast and as far west as Texas, an unlikely collection of Southerners and Yankees and whatever it is comes out of Texas. 😉
Yes, my parents were religious. No, they weren’t Catholic. And, yes, my father was in the military, tho he was out before I (the 3rd child) was born.
The two oldest children bailed on the rest of us as soon as they could, so they don’t really enter into this. Plus, they’re technically Boomers. 😉
After the loss of free babysitting from my oldest sister, it became quite common for the rest of us to be:
- Schlepped every-fucking-where as a group; and
- Left at home for extended periods on a near-daily basis.
Sometimes, we managed to be both hauled around and abandoned simultaneously. First packed into the family car (station wagon, van, whatever we had that was running at the time), then abandoned in the parking lot of a Safeway or Atwoods or some other store while the folks did their shopping inside. We learned to bring books. And to crack the windows.
We spent a lot of time unsupervised at home in the summers. Dad had a (perpetually failing) small business, and Mom went to work with him. They would generally come back for lunch, then leave again. You’d think we could’ve slept in during those summers, but … no. Everyone got up for breakfast at the same time. Mom & Dad would take off. And then …
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