My husband as well as I like to trade stories about life as children.
He had a way more colorful life than mine.
His family was adamant about spending their savings on family vacations and being together. They were adamant believers that money was only money. Family was the real gold to pursue in life. Meanwhile, I grew up within a family that was really opposite. I thought my family exhibited normal behavior all throughout life. Although, I may’ve been mistaken for several years now. For example, I distinctly remember rising early 1 time on Christmas Day. I was happy to open presents, so I sat under the tree in my pajamas waiting as I ate cereal for breakfast. I noticed how chilly it was inside our house, so I cranked up the thermostat by a few degrees to get our gas furnace to kick on. When a couple hours passed without the home warming up, I began to think about what was wrong. When I looked at the thermostat on the wall again, I saw absolutely nothing happening. I feared for the worst! After a few minutes, my parents came out of their room wondering why our house was so cold. All they saw was me standing on a chair in front of our thermostat. They immediately thought I was pushing all the buttons on the thermostat as well as disciplined me for the “transgression”, despite me explaining why I was actually trying to get the heating system kicked on in the first place. When they called the HVAC repair company to come examine our furnace. The repair professional explained to my parents that this was due to tear and wear, not due to a thermostat setting. My parents never did apologize for their unfair reaction! That’s just one of many stories similar to that. It’s a miracle that I became an adult without any serious trauma.