Complaining About The Man

Be careful what you wish for

While I’ve often done my own thing, I hardly ever find time to complain about the system and its fairness.

The specific incident that taught that lesson requires a bit of a setup, so you’ll have to indulge me…

[ad#inline-body]

Youngest of six

If you’ve read the articles on this site for a while, you know that’s my spot in life – but as I explained in my review of “The New Birth Order Book“, that’s fine by me.

Part of the down side of being the youngest is repaired hand-me-downs, smaller portions, and lowest rank in the family. (oh – and the center or “hump” seat in the car where you have to live with the gear linkage under your feet…-)

Sleeping arrangements

Shortly after my birth, the family moved into a nice home – with three bedrooms on the second level, a back “porch” that could be used as a bedroom, and an attic bedroom.

With six kids, that worked out – master bedroom for mom and dad, two kids in each of the reasonably sized bedrooms, one on the porch, and one in the attic.

Perhaps the least desirable…

The porch bedroom suffered from three main factors – size, comfort, and accessibility.  To reach it you had to go through one of the main bedrooms.  Because it was a “sun” room, the excess windows made it hot in the summer and cold in the winder. And lastly, it was about six feet by twelve feet – not a lot of space.

But it was all mine – from birth…

My earliest memories are in the crib in that room, and as a toddler, it didn’t matter much.

(The crib went away after I learned how to drop the side and let myself out, but that’s a different story;-)

Managing beds

At that early time, the other two boys slept in the bedroom outside mine, two girls in the front bedroom, and the eldest girl in the attic.

But as in all things – kids like to change these sorts of things.

But making it happen requires a long chain of approvals – and the eldest usually had the largest influence.

On the occasion that it happened, there was a string of movements – carefully choreographed and approved;-)

The attic

The “best” room in the house was the attic.  It was secluded, private, and by definition, the occupant had no roommate.

And we all wanted it.

But the eldest had “rights” to it…

Graduating

Some of the best events followed the departure of siblings.  Oh sure, I love them all, but after they leave, we get to re-divide the rooms!

After the eldest left, someone new got to move to the attic, and we could re-arrange things.  But as the youngest, I didn’t get much say.

And that’s not fair!

(really it is, but when you’re a kid, it doesn’t seem that way)

The opportunity

But then after half the kids had moved out, my brother did an amazing thing – he offered the attic room to me.

There were just three of us left in the house, and our sister wasn’t much interested in the attic anyway.

So I jumped at the opportunity!

Careful…

The stairs to the attic have a light switch at the top and bottom.

The bedroom itself has just one small window as many attic spaces have.

And for some reason, I don’t recall there ever being a night light…

And so you might already see this coming – I didn’t last two weeks.

I’d flick the light off at night and dive into bed, and jump out to get the light in the morning.

In fact, I’d bring my clothes half way down the stairs to change on the safe landing.

I’d gotten exactly what I wanted – but asked my brother for an undo.

Hardly ever complaining

So yes, at an early age I appreciated that sometimes the things you wish for aren’t given to you for good reasons – that you may not quite understand at the time.

I enjoyed the front bedroom with it’s two windows that provided nice lighting, a great view of thunder storms, and a summer breeze – for all of the remaining years until I finally moved out of the house. And for a good portion of that time, I was the only child in the house – and that was ok too.

So when the man tells you something isn’t going to happen and it’s for your own good – pay attention – least you get exactly what you were wishing for.