Family Chores and No Allowance

It always fascinates me that as adults we have so many childhood memories tucked away in our subconscious that we have forgotten about- and it isn't until something happens in our lives that brings one or more of those memories back to our remembrance. It could be a song, a smell, a place or something important only to us. Well I had one of those moments just a few days ago after it had snowed a few wet inches. Growing up in New England I have become accustomed to the winters here. As a child I loved the winter even though we lived at the bottom of a private road that the town plows would not and in fact could not plow due to the steep grade of our road. Because of this our family adopted this road as our own personal driveway and it became our responsibility to clear the road of all snow, and since we did not own a plow or a snow-blower back in those days- the only way to remove the snow was by hand- with a shovel.

This was not an easy task even for an adult- much less a bunch of kids under the age of twelve. If our family car was in our driveway, it would take us hours to shovel the snow for us to get the car out and park it at the top of the hill. This wasn't an option- it was an absolute necessity. We needed a car so we had no choice but to clear the road- and clear the road we did. We also sanded and salted the road and then prayed to God that the car would make it up the first time without sliding back down. (And sometimes it did slide back down and actually get stuck!)

Once we got the car out and up the hill we would park it on a side street and then walk back down the hill to our house. It wasn't so bad if you weren't carrying anything, but coming home from the shopping center was always a fun adventure. It would take a few trips with a few of us kids to help carry the bags of groceries from the car at the top of the hill to our house at the bottom of the road. It wasn't like we had a choice so this just became the norm for us. If we knew a snowstorm was coming, my older sister or my parents would drive the car to the top of the hill and park the car on the side of New Street and then walk back down the hill. Even though the car was safely out of our driveway it didn't remove the responsibility of having to shovel the road anyway. We at least needed a pathway to get up and down the hill.

I was remembering all of this while I was outside trying to get my snow blower working to clear our driveway here in Connecticut. I must have used old or bad gasoline and the snow blower was reacting poorly to the affected fuel and finally just gave up so I had to grab the shovel and clear the balance of our driveway by hand. I found myself complaining that I had to use a shovel and almost immediately I was back in time about 35 years as a kid holding a shovel looking down at a road that I just barely cleared less then a third of. Standing there in my driveway I remembered how long it took me to shovel our road and I also remembered I rarely, if ever, complained about it. It was what it was! I was the only boy and the second oldest of us younger kids so it just became my responsibility as the natural order of things.

As I stood there getting colder and wetter as the freezing rain was coming down making the snow harder and heavier to lift, I realized how spoiled this generation has become with our electronic gadgets and gasoline-powered inventions to do our jobs for us that we did by hand as kids, sometimes also as adults. I cleared as much as I could then I did what any self-respecting man would do. I tried starting the snow blower again and again. I even put new gas in and finally got it going enough to finish the clearing the driveway. Mission accomplished!

I guess what I learned in that brief moment is that although we may have had it more difficult than others, we had it alot better than most. I took out the trash, raked the leaves in our yard, I washed the cars in the summer and I shoveled our ridiculously long private road every winter for years- and we did it for FREE!

What You See Is What You Get

This morning I woke up thinking about the weather and how technologically advanced we've become with "state-of-the-art" equipment, and yet- the weather people are not always so accurate. It actually makes me laugh thinking how wrong they are much of the time. When I was a kid I don't remember hearing weather reports. If you wanted to know what the weather was, you looked out a window or door.

I remember waking up on a cold winter's morning and looking outside and see it snowing like crazy, and the first thing I would think of is "snow day"! It was always so much fun when it snowed. Of course the only responsibility we had as kids was to first help shovel out the family car, the driveway and the walkways- then it was all about playing in the stuff until you were so wet and so cold you just couldn't stand it anymore. Or, more times than not we were so oblivious to the wet and the cold, my Mom actually had to tell us we were wet and cold.

Now as an adult, I don't really mind when it snows- actually I think it's beautiful. However I have many more responsibilities now when it snows. I still have to shovel out the cars, clean the driveway and make the walkways passable, but I also have to drive in the stuff and go to work, or the store or run errands. It's not just myself on the roadways that I have to be watchful of- it's all the other drivers on the road. I usually pray that they know how to drive in it and are being as careful as possible.

But back to us as kids for a moment- my wife and I laugh when we reminisce about our childhood days playing in the snow. We still can't figure out if there was more snow when we were kids, or that we were shorter and smaller and the amount of snow just seemed like allot. Either way, remembering the many snowmen that we built, or the snow forts in the side of the hill by our house, or sledding down "dead-man's hill" (as we called it), bring back so many fond memories that I wouldn't trade them for the world. And it's kind of fun every now and again walking down our many "Memory Lanes". If anything it usually brings a smile- and last time I checked it's good to smile as often as possible. So in closing, I hope this brought a smile to your face as you remember your own childhood memories of the many "snow days" we had as kids. Let's go out and play in it!

A Time of Innocence

One thing that stands out in my mind about the time in which I grew up is how innocent we all were- I mean not just us kids, but everything seemed a little more innocent- our teachers, strangers, just about everyone. As a child growing up I have little to no memory of hearing any real "bad" news. Events that by today's standards we would call "mundane", were pretty big back when I was a kid. People seemed to respect each other and their property- a much different picture that what we see today.

Over the years I've thought on this and tried to pinpoint the event in time that changed everything. When did we go from an innocent, caring society of people to a world filled with hate and violence, and this notion that no one can be trusted? Is it really that all people have gone to the dogs, or maybe the "powers-that-be" that disseminate what we see and hear only want us to see and hear the negative? If I had to guess I would choose the latter. Somewhere deep in my soul I still believe that most people are decent, caring, generous, God-fearing good people who care about the environment, they care about their community and they care about each other.

I may counted as odd, but I would rather find the good in people than be wary of everyone that I meet. I try and bring a smile to the faces of the sad and lonely wherever I go. I try and help those who can't find the strength to help themselves. A friend of mine wrote a song many years back called "Is Anybody Happier?" The first stanza of the song has a powerful message in it and it reads:

"Is anybody happier because you passed their way?

Does anyone remember that you spoke to them today?

The day is almost over child- it's toiling time is through.

Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?"

I can honestly say that I try and live my life by the suggestions in this song to make every possible moment count while we're here on Earth. I have found that it's so much easier to be nice and smile than to be mean and negative. It takes up way too much energy living with all that baggage- why do that to ourselves? I hope that each one of us can try in our own little way to bring a little bit of Heaven back to Earth each and every day we live, and maybe we can bring a little bit of the innocence back that has been taken from us so many years ago.

My Own "Small Town America"

I mentioned in my profile that I have this nostalgia for "Small Town America". I guess if I had to narrow down what it is most that I miss, it would have to be simplicity of life and a closeness in the community and the family.


When I was a kid our town had one movie theater that showed two movies at the same time, and if you paid for one show you could actually stay in the theatre as long as you wanted and no one kicked you out. My friends and I would go see an afternoon matinee and when it was over we'd go to the theatre next door and watch the movie playing in the other theatre. When we finally left the movie theatre we'd ride our bikes to the "Five and Dime" store and sit at the soda counter and order a hamburger, french fries and a Coke and it would cost us just under a dollar. It almost seems unreal when I think back about it.


Our town also had only one pizza shop that made the best greasy, thin crust cheese pizza I have ever tasted. I still haven't found a place to this day that has pizza that tastes as good as it did way back then. We had one sub shop and the sandwiches were called Submarines- and they were the best. We had one jewelry store, one department store, one hardware store and a corner candy store. We spent alot of time riding our bikes to the candy store. For a dollar we could fill a small brown paper bag with "penny-candy" and then ride around all day eating candy- it was great!


As I grew, our small town grew as well. Soon there were more pizza shops, more department stores and more sandwich shops cluttering our little Main Street. We didn't mind- it was called "progress", but as I look back now, I realize how nice it was before things starting getting built up. Our childhood was predictably simple. We would either ride our bikes or walk to school the mile or so it took to get there, never caring how long it took. We'd laugh, or talk, or even make up stories about the one scary house with the overgrown lawn on our way to school.


Life seemed so much simpler then, and the reality is- it was simpler. As kids we would play outside all the time- no sitting inside watching TV or playing video games. We would spend the majority of our childhood outdoors building tree-forts, playing "kick the can" or hide and seek. We were healthy, skinny and always up to something. It's hard to imagine that kind of a life when I look around and see all the technology that has replaced that simple life.


I guess talking and writing about it keeps it alive for me. The truth is, when I'm thinking about my growing up years and our little town in New Jersey, it does make me smile and warms my heart a little. I hope my trip down "Memory Lane" brings a smile to your face as well- and maybe bring a memory or two back for you that made you happy. Until we meet again...