Friday, May 30, 2008
Today's random topic: Describe a typical day in your teen years
A typical day in high school would have began around 5:15am. I hated that alarm clock. My brother, Justin, and I had 30 minutes to get ready and out the door. Now, back in my teenage years, my hair took at least 30 minutes to do, and so I would make sure it was the way I wanted it and then grab my make-up bag and bring it with me. At around 5:45, we left the house and my father drove us 30 minutes north to Greenville where we would attend early morning seminary. Now remember the make-up? I would put it on in the car on the way to the church using the headlights of oncoming cars to see what I was doing. It's a wonder I didn't go to school looking like a clown, but it actually turned out quite well. Of course, at the time I didn't think so, but I digress. Once we arrived at seminary Dad dropped Justin and me off and drove on to West Milton to go to work. We began seminary with a hymn and a prayer, followed by about an hour lesson, then a closing prayer. From there, our teacher -Jim Bailey- drove the Greenville kids about a half-mile to their school and then drove Justin and me back down to Arcanum on his way back home to Phillipsburg. Yes, lots of driving. But there was a special perk to coming from farther away. Brother Bailey took Justin and me out to breakfast every morning before school. The rest of the class got to go every Friday, but just Justin and me went throughout the week. I tried to leave money in his car once since he insisted on paying for us, but he found it and gave it back to me. We got to know him and his views on lots of different things and we always knew that we could come to him with any gospel question or really anything and he would always know exactly what to say.
Once we arrived at school, we went our separate ways. We had seven class periods and of course, lunch. My favorite subjects were English and Spanish. I loathed algebra. After school, I would ride the bus home. Kindergarten through 12th grade all rode the same bus, so it was kind of a long ride with lots of backroad stops, but truthfully, I didn't really mind it. I liked to relax and look out the window as well as visit with my friend, Sherry.
When we got home, Mom was typically there to ask about our days and usually had some cookies or brownies made for us to eat. Our dog, Patches, would greet us and insist we pet her profusely. We'd sit down and eat whatever goodies Mom had made with big glasses of cold milk and sometimes watch a little television, all while Patches begged. One ear up and one ear down, her standard begging pose. Then it was on to homework if we had any. Around 6pm was dinner which was almost always meat and potatoes with some kind of vegetable side dish and milk. Lots of milk. We also always had bread, butter and jelly on the table. After dinner was chore time. We rotated the chores. There were 3 of us that were old enough for chores so we rotated between doing the dishes, taking out the trash, and feeding the dog. No one liked the dishes job, especially if there was a cast-iron skillet or the broiler pan to be washed, but we all had to do it. After the chores were done, we had time for television, reading or in my case, hiding away in my room with the radio turned up, dancing around in my own world. Then it was time for family scripture reading and family prayer and we went off for showers/baths and off to bed. We were all supposed to be in bed around 9:30pm but that didn't always happen. And then it would start all over again at 5:15am the next day...did I mention I hated that alarm?
This schedule may seem extreme to some, and my homelife may seem old-fashioned. I didn't always enjoy the early mornings or the "boring" family stuff but in hindsight I see where it has benefited me in my adult life and made me who I am today. So there it is. A day in the life of teenage Michelle. Feel free to comment and share how things were for you as a teen.
Until next time...
Posted by Michelle at 11:49 PM 0 comments
