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In a message dated 5/20/03 10:02:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
britcontoo@... writes:

> I also remember
> when me and my sis were growing up we could not laugh or talk at the
> dinner table. Well, of course we would end up in the giggles
> probably from stress<G> and then get yelled at, maybe spanked.

My Daddy didn't like for us to 'act up" at the dinner table. But, my 2
sisters, AND my mother and I, often ended up laughing and "carrying on" during
dinner. Mom would stifle a giggle and try to act like she wasnt in on the fun..
But, we would keep on and on til we were all dying out belly laughing (
including Mom) Daddy would get mad shove himself away from the table and storm into
the living room. Then we would REALLY get to rolling laughing, and he would
sulk in the living room til we finally wound down.


Every time we went out to eat, we would get a "warning talk" from Daddy..
"Don't you girls go in here and act up, now, ya hear?" Of course, that only
served as fuel to make us loud and giggly. Daddy would give us an evil eye
and lean in and whisper to us.. "Everybody knows your here". My sisters and
Mom and I still use this line when we go out with just "the girls" and we get
loud and rowdy.. "Alright now, everybody knows you're here" LMBO.. As
children, we might say, " I'm thirsty, I want something to drink", Daddy's solution:
"Get in there and hook your lip around that spigot". We would plead,
"Daddy, we're hungry, let's stop to get something to eat" ( on a long road trip
back from Grandma's). Daddy replies, "I'm gonna take you to a restaurant, you
can get something real good to eat" We are so excited, "Yay, yay, where is
it? when are we stopping?" Daddy's answer, "We're going to Banner's
Restaurant, that's where we are going" .. Of course, Banners Restaurant was HOME. ..
We went through this "Banner's Restaurant" scenario almost every time we took a
long road trip. We really knew he wasn't going to stop.. BUT, sometimes he
did.stop. Occasionally, if HE was hungry, he would stop at a restaurant on
the way home from Grandma's. And then we got the "you better not act up in
here" talk.

I wonder, what is the difference that I recall these childhood memories with
fondness and affection rather than resentment and hostility towards my Daddy?
I think it's because for all the "wrong things" my Daddy did, he done many
times over more "right things" Thank goodness for that, otherwise, I might
have been scarred for life.

Teresa


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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In a message dated 5/20/03 8:02:47 PM, britcontoo@... writes:

<< I remember getting yelled at for spilling things. I also remember

when me and my sis were growing up we could not laugh or talk at the

dinner table. Well, of course we would end up in the giggles

probably from stress<G> and then get yelled at, maybe spanked. >>

We had a "don't sing at the table" rule.
No singing, no humming.

You might choke.

Once at a restaurant, when I was eight or so, no booster seat, full-size big
everything, I spilled chocolate milk. We were with other people, maybe
another family, I don't remember. The waitress wanted to give me another one
but my mom wouldn't let her, so I ate with chocolate milk on the table cloth
around my plate and none to drink. Or I tried to eat, because although I
don't remember who all was there (I remember it was kind of dark inside, it
was Matilda's, in Espanola, I remember there were about ten people at the two
tables pushed together), I remember how tight my throat felt from frustration
and trying not to cry.

Maybe I don't remember who was there because I was too ashamed to look around.

If my mom could get that back and change it, would she?

Sandra