It was really cold this morning. When the alarm went off I wanted to hit the snooze button and burrow back down under the covers but, being a responsible adult, I didn’t. I got up and went through my morning routine.
I was making the bed when it occurred to me that 10-year-old me wouldn’t bother with it. She didn’t make her bed unless Mom was standing over her threatening dire punishment. 10-year-old Peg would say, “What’s the point? It will only get messed up again tonight.” And she would be right.
We grown-ups do a lot of things that our 10-year-old selves would never do. Things like:
9-to-5 Job: While grown-up Peg finds insurance a rewarding and challenging career, 10-year-old Peg would be horrified at the thought of being stuck behind a desk doing boring paperwork all day (her words, not mine.) The only career options that 10-year-old Peg saw on her horizon were: world famous explorer, world famous ballerina, world famous actress, world famous writer, or nun. Preferably a world famous nun.
Thong Underwear: 10-year-old Peg would have thought that wearing these would be like walking around with a dental-floss wedgie all day – uncomfortable and kinda gross. Grown-up Peg has to go along with her on this one.
Smoking: Grown-up Peg smoked for many years and had a hard time quitting. 10-year-old Peg thought it looked cool, but when she tried it once under Katie Loop’s porch she turned a peculiar shade of pea-soup green and just about lost her lunch.
Pantyhose: These have practically gone the way of the dinosaur for young women, but not for women of a “certain age.” Grown-up Peg appreciates the way they tame the tummy and camouflage a snow-white-with-blue-veins leg. 10-year-old Peg would die laughing to see the gymnastics required to get into a pair of these, especially in a 2’ x 2’ bathroom stall on a steamy, summer day.
Blue Cheese: 10-year-old Peg would have responded with a finger-down-the-throat barfing pantomime at the suggestion that she would ever eat stuff like blue cheese, sardines or buttermilk. She knew that these were foods that only Dad could like. Grown-up Peg loves nothing better than a good blue cheese, but buttermilk still earns the barf signal.
Daily Bathing: Grown-up Peg relishes a nice, hot shower and would stand in one for an hour every day if she didn’t need to worry about the well going dry. 10-year-old-Peg only took a weekly bath because of her mom’s strange obsession with cleanliness. 10-year-old-Peg thought that Eau De Gym Class Funk was a perfectly fine scent.
Sex: 10-year-old Peg faked bored sophistication when she first learned about the mechanics involved in this, but secretly she thought, “Ewww. No way.” When it occurred to her that with 8 siblings her parents must have done that 9 times, her reaction was, “EWWWWWW. NO WAY!!!!!”
I could add lots more things to this list, but I don’t want to. Don’t wanna, not gonna and you can’t make me, so THERE! pbbbt!
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
They do have one thing in common, though, they’re both hilariously funny.
P.S. Don’t you just hate RAS? (Responsible Adult Syndrome)
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I do hate RAS. The good thing is I’m usually immune.
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My 10-year-old self watched my dad eat Limburger cheese (he thought it went good with beer or whiskey, ’nuff said). My adult self definitely does not go along with that (the cheese, the beer or the whiskey, but a nice cheddar with wine is acceptable).
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I’m with you on the cheddar with wine, although I have expanded my repertoire to include blue, Gorgonzola and the like. No Limburger.
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Ya know, after reading this I realized something….I’m still 10 – maybe 10 1/2 at best.
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Time for you to wash up (check behind your ears) and go to bed.
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At half past 3? Not even with 10 years I went to bed at half past 3
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He’s been bad so he has to go to bed early.
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You know that those eary bed times only encourage further “bad” behaviour, like “soiling oneself” *ahem*. Totally not speaking out of experience here, of course.
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Love your list! A few things: 1. World famous nun would be the awesomest career ever. Some of those ladies kick a$$. 2. Gotta go with 10-year-old Peg on thong underwear and pantyhose. Though 16-year-old Nicole would have disagreed. 3. Smoking. Ugh. The one thing I hate with a passion that took me YEARS to give up. Maybe kids really are smarter than adults. 4. Love blue cheese, but goat cheese is better. But I almost broke up with my husband when we were dating because he ordered anchovies on a pizza. Blech. 5. I love hot showers so much, I have been known to go to the gym just so I could drop my kids in babysitting and stand in the shower as long as I wanted to. Otherwise, my husband might never touch me, and then where would we be? (Actually, who am I kidding. My husband is a man.) 6. See #5. 😉
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My hubby sounds a lot like yours, right down to the pizza. He orders his half with anchovies even though I keep telling him the stench and blecch leeches right over on to my half.
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Haha! Oh, I hate anchovies! My husband only made that mistake once! 🙂
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Nun
There is one of those world-famous nuns. And there is the song:
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Pretty! I can’t understand the French, though.
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I remember that song! I think I actually learned it in French class in high school, but it has totally left my mind. I can still sing the French national anthem though. Pretty much.
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I loved that song as a kid – I think I had an English version of that song!
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Not this version, but here are the English lyrics shown:
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It is a song about the founder of the Dominican order, and how he travelled through Europe to talk about God. Not that I understand all of it.
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I pull the covers over my head every day!
I’m so glad you grew up, Peg. I did too, kinda….not really.
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As long as we stay young at heart we’re OK.
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maybe we should listen to our ten year old selves (for the most part–there are one or two exceptions)
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We were smarter then.
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yes we were
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Great post. Excellent. Bloody brilliant. Whatever.
So did you make the bed or not?
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Only when mom makes me.
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I’m still 10 at heart. I hate making my bed and pantyhose. But 10 year old me did not eat any veggies — now I love them!
Fun post, Peg.
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Me too, Elyse. Except I’d still rather eat peanut butter cups. 😉
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I have a confession. I hate PB and chocolate.
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Oh, the humanity.
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I have to side with 10-year-old Peg on the blue cheese thing. She apparently had wise culinary tastes.
As for 10-year-old Carrie, she would have thought marrying Parker Stevenson was the be-all, end-all. Now adult Carrie feels differently.
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On the Parker Stevenson issue, I’d like to know what the heck is the matter with adult Carrie?
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She saw Daniel Craig and decided Parker could go.
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On second thought…glad you grew up a little.
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Now I worry a lot about whether I’m being annoying to people, 10 year old me, who most certainly was annoying, was blissfully unaware of that and thus didn’t worry. Yes, worrying in general probably is a difference. Is this an annoying comment Peg? TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME, GO ON, TELL ME, GO ON, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME!!! I’m just being paranoid aren’t I’m not annoying am I, AM I, AM I, AM I, AM I, TELL ME, TELL ME, GO ON, TELL ME, AM I, AM I?!
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So glad you’ve outgrown that needy stage, VJ.
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Reblogged this on onestressedoutmama.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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I gotta agree with 10-year-old Peg about making the bed… why bother?
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She’s one, smart lady. I mean girl.
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Ten-year old me ate nothing but white bread, peanut butter, white rice, and soy sauce. Adult Me loves ALL the vegetables (thank goodness). Ten-year old me really, really wanted to marry Jordan Knight from the New Kids on the Block but was crestfallen to learn that Jordan was a full 10 years older than me. Adult Me is not married to Jordan Knight but is perfectly fine being married to a man who is 10.5 years older than me. 🙂
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Jordan Knight will never know how close he came to having all his dreams come true.
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A great read. ..it is interesting how much we change as we grow. But to be honest I still don’t make my bed
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I won’t tell your mom.
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When I was 10, a fun summer afternoon was running through the sprinklers in my bathing suit. Now I only wear full body suits.
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Yeah, me too. And not so much running going on here, unless I’m being chased by a bad guy.
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Being chased by a big guy? Wishful thinking here …Oh, it was BAD guy .. I see … still …
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Wonderful trip down memory lane Peg. When I was ten: 9-5 was an early morning paper route, thinking “there has to be a better way.” Thong underwear, well you know ten year old boys. Pantyhose, I couldn’t stop staring thinking (something about girls is definitely different and, I think I like girls better than food now!) Blue cheese, yuck, and still yuck! Daily Bathing, what’s that? Sex, can’t wait till I’m old enough!
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My brothers had paper routes. I hated when I got old enough to drive and my mom would force me to take them around if it was raining, snowing, a stray leaf might be laying about, etc.
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LOL stray leaf, perhaps the most brutal of all weather conditions. Have a great weekend Peg. :O)
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Reblogged this on tamarlomidze.
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Shaving my legs. 11-year-old Jules thought that was a GREAT idea. 32-year-old Jules is wondering when and why the Sasquatch look went out of style.
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Oh, yeah. But it wasn’t until 13 that Peg thought shaving was a good idea. Boy, were our younger selves deluded.
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Yeah….what’s with blue cheese? They must have reformulated it when I was about 20 because it has a new improved taste now…and I don’t even think of it as moldy cheese.
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The wonders of the modern dairy industry.
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Haha. Yeah, I think about the things that I didn’t want to do when I was little and shake my head. I can’t believe that there was a time when I hated writing. Writing is my life now!
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That is funny, isn’t it? Maybe there IS something to this growing-up business?
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Being adopted I thought my parents never did ‘that’. 40 year old Val was totally disturbed when she found out otherwise.
Loved this list Peg, it is truly dead on and I think all of us could add for days.
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55 year old Peg still can’t think of the parents that way. Shudder.
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And I bet Peg’s children cannot think about her that way, too 😛
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I’m POSITIVE of that.
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Don’t all children live under the wrong perception that their generation is the one who invented that sex thingie …
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Is something wrong with me? There isn’t a day I remember that my bed wasn’t made. The day wasn’t right if my bed wan’t made. There is something wrong with me…
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No , your mom just trained you right.
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You’re right. She did. Dag blammit!
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OCD?
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How did you know? Was it something I said? 😉
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Nope, female intuition!
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Gets me every time!
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Pingback: Things Grown-Up Me Does That 10-Year-Old Me Would Never Do | Humans Being.
I could stand in a hot shower all day. But to convince my son to clean himself? I think his goal in life is to be Pig Pen. Of course, I know this will change once he hits puberty and starts bathing himself in Axe body spray.
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That’s hysterical, but also a real hazard.
We had a situation at the homeless shelter the other night where one of the younger guests, maybe 18, doused himself with that stuff before bed. It’s pretty close quarters there and the rest of us had watering eyes and were stifling the urge to vomit. I couldn’t stop coughing. I hoped the social worker would say something, but I sure didn’t want to.
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Wonderful reflection on a childhood self. Your style is lovely and brought a smile to my face 🙂
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Thanks so much for the kind comment – you made my day!
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