Small Thoughts on Adolescence

In middle school I had a job working with a painter named Joe. My family hired him to paint the outside of our house and do some work on the inside as well. He was a terribly slow painter. It took him months to get all the work done at our house. He practically turned into a member of our family, eating dinner with us on many occasions. That’s probably why he felt obligated to give me a job when my mom asked. So much for summer vacation. The job was boring and I didn’t know what I was doing. I probably misplaced every paint brush and roller the guy had. And for some reason, Joe loved Long John Silvers and hated when I snapped my fingers. Even though I never saw him stop at Long John Silvers, he always had a bag of fried chicken leftovers nearby.

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The toy department in stores these days is nothing like they were when I was a kid. I could spend hours fingering through the different Matchbox or Hot Wheel cars in search of a rare find. Back then, Lego hadn’t transcended into the video gaming industry and Lincoln Logs weren’t a novelty. That was a long time ago. And I wonder, when was the last time I actually went up and down the aisles looking for a new toy? At what point did I think I was too old or too cool for toys?

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After I grew out of my toy phase and began buying video games I wanted to get the brand new Game Boy Color. It was going to change my life. Instead of having to play Sega in the basement, which was the scariest place in my house, I could play the Game Boy anywhere- it was hand-held. My parents said they wouldn’t pay for it so every few weekends I’d go to my aunt and uncle’s farm and help them mow the lawn or weed the garden. While mowing along the chicken coop I was faced with a decision. Do I cut the big chunk of grass near the hornets nest or skip by it? Skip by it of course, this is the country, wasps, horseflies, bumblebees, and hornets are bigger than my face out here. After finishing up the mowing, I went inside when my aunt pointed to the patch of grass near the chicken coop and said I had missed a spot. No I didn’t, I thought to myself. As I lugged the lawn mower back to the coop I prayed I wouldn’t get stung. Then when I started the lawn mower and began chopping down the blades of grass, nothing happened. I wasn’t stung and a week later I got my Game Boy Color.