My sister and I like to reminisce about our childhood and repeat funny stories.
- Some of our stories are more colorful than others, as our family made a point to spend most of our money on seeing new places.
Our parents were adamant believers that currency was just that – currency. Family was important and we spent a lot of time together. However, we also grew up with stories that were less than jolly. My sister and I thought it was normal behavior for our parents to exhibit odd behavior every now and then. Now that we’re older, we understand more. For example, we distinctly remember waking up early one morning on Thanksgiving Day. We were happy to watch the parade on TV, so we turned on the cable and set about eating our cereal in front of the TV. We noticed how chilly it was inside our house, so we cranked up the thermostat in an attempt to get our gas furnace to heat up! After several minutes passed, and our home still wasn’t warm, we began to wonder what was wrong with it. When we examined the thermostat again, we noticed that nothing was happening. My sister and I feared for the worst! Sure enough, our parents entered the living room and started asking why it was so cold. They saw the two of us standing on a chair in front of the thermostat and thought we were playing with the thermostat. Our parents disciplined us for our “transgressions”, despite us explaining why we were trying to get our furnace turned on. When they called a heating as well as AC service specialist to come take a look at our furnace, the service specialist explained that the problem was due to wear as well as tear. We didn’t break the thermostat! Our parents never apologized for their reaction! That’s just one of thousands of stories that my sister and I laugh about now. Sometimes, it’s a miracle that we reached adulthood separate from any drastic trauma.