I HAVE A CONFESSION!!

You could say i had already eaten my fair share about 50 years ago.

Well Gracie, I don't want to give you any ideas ......so I leave out the things I used to do at your age and a bit older ;-) I don't tell my own daughter either, otherwise she'll say "You did that too, why can't I?".....

I feel for you though about missing your mother. Especially when you're a teenager and your body is changing, your new found interest in boys, certain
questions only a mom could answer and you wouldn't dare ask your dad. I am sure it is not easy for you. How is your twin sister reacting to all of this? Does she have similar thoughts?

About 57 years ago I cleared out General Science class - it was during the first afternoon period- when I cut a real gagger : the weather was too cold outside to open the windows.

Teacher thought it came from a hydrogen sulfide prank.

Tip: Do Tex-Mex lunches on weekends only.

I don't feel that dads should be excluded from taking on these highly important aspects of child/teen rearing. Especially if there isn't a female around.

Yes, there could be some initial awkward moments, but there have been plenty of women who have put the kaibosh on talking about these "unseemly" issues. [Note the quotes on 'unseemly'] [Not blaming women, just noting a fact.]


I say give your dad a chance, Gracie. Obviously these things aren't the easiest subjects to address.

I sure wouldn't want any daughter of mine to not have someone to talk to about important issues.

Gracie,
what about your brother, who is three years older than you and your sister, how did he react as a child when his mother disappeared?

When I was about 12, I ate some formaldehyded fish eggs in science class on a dare. It took about 3 months to get that horrible taste out of my mouth. Now THAT's stupid!

Mothers and daughters might have a very good relaitionsship and still not talk very much about certain female aspects of life.
There might be a woman around as relative or friend of the family with whom a girl might talk easier than the mother.
Especially this would probably happen in a family with no mother. It does not mean the father is not taking part of the daughter´s life - just that there are others with whom a girl like to share certain part of her life with.
I grew up without a mother and I really disliked as soon as people called me "poor me poor motherless child" or something like this.
When I grew older I usually told people to pity my father who lost the love of his life and not me who never knew my mother and still I had a wonderful life

1) I have always swallowed my gum more often than not- even though I know it's a bad thing to do, and even in situations where I could dispose of it properly- I sometimes still swallow it- and I don't know WHY! It's not as if I like swallowing it or anything. I think it's because I'm lazy when it comes to disposing of my chewing gum.

2) I went to college down south when and where a lot of the guys, especially baseball players, chewed tobacco. Once, a group of them dared me to take a chaw and see how long I could hold it in my bottom lip. I was embarrassed to spit in front of them so I swallowed. I swallowed on purpose so I wouldn't have to spit in front of them, but I told them I did it by accident.

Gracie, I used to talk about all the girly stuff with my sisters much moreso than with my mom. I'm not trying to minimize your feelings about not having a mom, but truthfully, when it came to having my first period and buying my first bra and all that stuff, I remember having all those discussions with my sisters.
I did have an older sister who was/is VERY reassuring and motherly and a wealth of information, so she helped me a LOT with stuff and I know your sister is a twin and so the same age as you and maybe not as helpful in terms of already having gone through stuff as an older sister would be, but later on if/when you guys have babies and stuff like that it'll be nice to have each other.
I sometimes really feel sorry for my daughter that I didn't provide a sister for her, knowing how important my sisters were to me.
She has her big brother who is wonderful to her - but it's not the same thing as having a sister.

But yeah - I don't know your Dad at all, but it is good to let him be in on all the aspects of your life. I know I tell my kids when they say stuff like, 'Don't tell Daddy,' that 'Yes, I'm going to tell Daddy. He's your father and he loves you and he needs to know what's happening in your life. So don't ever expect me not to tell Daddy.'

And actually, my Dad, who was about as business-minded and practical and analytical and seemingly unemotional as a man could appear to be, was really, really good at being comforting and supportive of me whenever I had a problem- although I never thought of him like that or expected him to be that when I was a teenager. He always seemed like the setter of rules and a little strict and forbidding.
But when I let down my guard a little and started opening up and trusting him to understand me, I learned that he had another side. Maybe yours does too.

PS - You and your sister have a long-lost triplet in England. When I saw your profile picture, I had to do a double-take. I thought you were my daughter's friend Beth. You look JUST like her!

I agree, Saab, but IMHO, that is not the ideal. I do recognize that life rarely is.



Yes, again, I agree. A realistic and excellent fix for, again in my opinion, a less than ideal situation.



Again, we agree. I'd just want my daughter to know that she could come to me for absolutely anything, her choice of course, for I wouldn't dream of making her discuss certain things that were uncomfortable for her.

But I think that if a relationship was cultivated from a young age, that these "secrets" wouldn't have to be such big secrets. They are, after all, perfectly natural parts of life.

I have no weird or quirky habits.

I used to chew the paper wrappers on cupcakes until the flavor had all left.

These days I use the cellophane wrap of Lifesaver mints (individual wrap) as dental floss, I used to use the cellophane wrapping cigarette boxes that way.

M&Ms must be sorted to their color and eaten in proper order, yellow and green go first, red and blue are saved for last, sometimes red wins out, sometimes blue gets the final spot.

The 4th time I was sent to Vermont to live with relatives, I got off the bus in Albany and wasn't seen for a while (how I was found led to my decision a few years later to give teaching a whirl).


Let me go back to that late summer day...

I was born at 2:30 in the morning...my parents were not amused, neither were my brother and sister or the Rabbi and his wife (they lived below us). For unknown reasons my doctor was a rat...well Rat is part of his name...

Very little is known of our family history, which, given that what we do know shows wide spread insanity, is probably for the best.

In the 1st grade on the coldest day of the 1950s, I lost my mitten and had to trek home without it, I arrived late and was of course punished...for being late. Being late was a cardinal sin to my mother and I myself don't deal well with people who show up late. Mr.Hand in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, treated Spicoli (Sean Penn's character) in much the way I would have, if it hadn't been against the rules and regulations set up by the school board.

Once I emptied a salt shaker into my sister's fruit punch, she wasn't amused and thew a glass at me.

My brother was quite good at forgery, he wrote and signed excusal notes for me regularly.

I learned that hiding in plain sight was the best way to skip school (you didn't hear this from me. When permitted back in to the city for living, I soon discovered riding the Staten Island Ferry was a good way to fill a few hours, and usually get some free food and cigarettes. Unlike a friend of mine, I was fortunate and nothing bad happened to me. Often before riding the ferry or after, I'd take the subway to the end of the line, then start back and make transfers, taking another train to the end of the line.

When taking out a new book, I look at the end, to see where the final words land within a page. I get annoyed if there are only a few words on the final page. While reading there will be several checks on copyright year, which edition, how many editions, any other books by the author. Additionally I notice errors. When Leon Uris made several gaffes in Redemption, I was livid. Not just at him; but any editors, publishes etc. etc. involved in the book. Haven't read the jerks work since, and I won't. If he didn't care enough to properly lay out his book, he lacked self respect and there's no reason for me to line his pockets with money.

I despise Oprah Winfrey because of her book club. In 2 cases that I heard of, she did not 'discover' this fabulous new author. In one case, the author had been dead for 3o years and both books had been around a long while. Because of that, I won't touch any book that has her seal of approval.

It should be noted that my opinion of people who destroy book jackets is not a good one. Book jackets helped me to craft many book reports.

Because my English teacher in the first part of the 12 grade (senior year) objected to commas, I at times, will use them in excess.

I cannot diagram a sentence and don't want to.
Don't do long division either, never learned it...school changes were mostly responsible for that. Other than that I can do all sorts of things with numbers and convert letters to numbers with ease.

When I see a package that's been delivered for someone else, I'm constantly tempted to grab it for myself. The only time I actually did this was years ago. In one case it was several rolls of undeveloped film...later learned what that degenerate man did, and am fairly sure what the film was for. The other was a book, which I felt strange reading since it was stolen. Have no idea what happened to it.

Being somewhat double jointed even at my advanced age, I enjoy watching people cringe as I bend my fingers in odd directions and bring my thumb backwards to the underside of my wrist.

My ears can wiggle too, although I do have to stop and concentrate. This may be a hereditary matter, as my siblings can also do this. My sister's science teacher years ago, was able to do this as well and gave a performance for the class. Except for my sister, the students were impressed. Since it was a science teacher, it may be an ability reserved for science teachers and their family.

There are other things, but I don't think anything is particularly weird or shameful....at least not that I've listed. Maybe the film and book theft...

Surprised no one's commented on this bit yet.

And oy, if we're doing confession time I'm going to have to fire up Word.

Ha!

By the way Sturgis, I've been meaning to say this and this is as good of a time as any probably, you have become noticeably sharper since you first returned to A2K, great to see your progress.

Ha, I can wiggle my ears too, Sturgis, not dramatically, but they definitely wiggle. It's probably genetic. Means we're not as highly evolved as most people, because the vestigial muscle there is less vestigial than most--puts us in the dog-and-cat range, like they cock their ears to hear a particular sound. Somebody of some note in history, might have been Napoleon's Empress Josephine, could not only wiggle her ears but fold them up without touching them (like the back part of the ear coming forward and folding over the ear canal part) according to Ripley's Believe It or Not, which helped me form a large part of my view of the world.

You too?!

Wow.

I always keep 2 or 3 in my bag.

I view that as less evolved but I understand how that stated idea is being used.

Amen Brother.

Hey, are you sucking up to Set? OMG!!

Later on, I'm going to put a plastic tag up his nose.

Don't tell ehbeth, ok?

I don't know, chai.... two people putting plastic tags up their noses is a dangerous thing, especially if they're simultaneously sucking up to each other... I might have to alert her to this thread.