Francesca of Three Bay B Chicks here today. On Laura’s last day of vacation, she allowed me the pleasure of hijacking her blog. Rather than writing my own introduction, I’ll just say that I hope Laura doesn’t regret giving me this type of power…
As I sat with my sister, Gianna, at an outdoor cafe last week, watching my two toddlers run around, she suddenly turned to me and asked, How old are you? I laughed, I am not really sure. I’m somewhere in my early thirties. How old are you, I asked her. After a few minutes of debate, we calculated that Gianna is 25. I, on the other hand, am 34, and not 32 or 33, as I normally tell people. You’re getting old, she joked with me.
Gianna’s right. I am not quite the spring chicken that I once was. The years seem to be passing more quickly. Somehow, I ended up married, with two kids, living a fairly normal suburban life. And even though there is a nine year difference between my sister and I, it seems not that long ago that we were living in my parent’s house, working on our homework, and eating dinner together every. single. night.
The world is a changed place since the time my sister and I were kids. However, as we have gotten older, the fun lies in looking back and remembering…
Television. For us, this translated to the TGIF line-up on ABC: Step by Step, Family Matters, Full House, and Boy Meets World. Gianna and I lived for Friday night TV. There wasn’t a single problem that couldn’t be solved in 30 minutes. Everything was right with the world.
Jump rope. When it came to jump rope rhymes, nothing could ever compare to Miss Mary…
…Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother, for fifty cents, cents, cents, to see the elephants, phants, phants, jump over the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high he touched the sky, sky, sky and he didn’t come back, back, back til the forth of July, ly, ly.
He jumped so low, ow, ow he stubbed his toe, toe, toe, and that’s the end, end, end of the elephants’ show, show, show.
Being Green. In our house, this meant watching Captain Planet on Saturday morning TV. Recycling, biodegradable products, sustainable agriculture, what? Captain Planet taught us everything we needed to know about the dangers of toxic waste from nuclear power plants.
Slang. I’m not sure if you can even call it that, but phrases like, talk to the hand, then why don’t you marry it?, and I’ve fallen and I can’t get it, really made us laugh.
It was a good life. A time before the MySpace frenzy, Internet & text messaging, Sidekicks & iPods, and even cellphones. Sometimes I look back and think, how did we survive without the million and one different ways to communicate?
My sister and I seemed to manage just fine, laughing through it all. I imagine that we’ll still be smiling in the years and decades to come. I’ve even gone the extra mile and picked up outfits for us when we are old and gray.
If that doesn’t keep us laughing, then something will surely be wrong.
–Francesca
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