Or:  How I Learned to Start Worrying and Be Afraid of Flying Monkeys

So yesterday on kelli blogs she proposed an idea for a weekly feature called Wicked Word Wednesday.  Kelli will post a word and we can all join in with a story, anecdote, poem, what have you, and play along.  What better word to launch the day than “Wicked”, right?  Kelli’s post was about the Wizard of Oz and it prompted a discussion among several of us as to how terrifying that movie was to all of us as children.  Which leads me to my follow up post:

What the hell were my parents thinking?!?!?

That’s me far left, at age 20 with the old people!

I grew up as the only child of older parents.  In fact, my father being 20 years older than my mother, was 55 when I was born.  Surprise!  I’m not sure they knew what to do with me.  I found myself in grownup settings a lot.  By myself.  (See that old photo of the cocktail party?  That’s me in the corner with my Shirley Temple and a coloring book.)  That’s messed up, right?

Now I realize that some of the experiences I had growing up have made me what I am today and I wouldn’t change those things.  I’m content being alone, I don’t bore easily, I love to read and I appreciate art and history from being exposed to them at an early age.

However, and I hope this doesn’t sound whiny, my upbringing has left me with “issues”.  I mean, beyond an irrational fear of quicksand, hitting my head and getting amnesia and encountering flying monkeys in a forest full of evil trees!

Mom started perming my hair when I was in grade school and patting a little rouge on my pale cheeks.  What, not pretty enough? Mom played the piano and even taught music but wouldn’t give me lessons.  Not talented enough?  Aw, come on!  We’re going to the movies.  To see James Bond’s latest escapade.  That’s appropriate for a grade schooler, right?   I kept wondering why Bond was always going to bed in the middle of the day.  That guy needed a lot of naps.

Anyway, looking back on it now, I can laugh (sort of) but I really have to wonder what the hell they were thinking?