“One hundred fifty years ago, a book appeared in England that changed the world.”
— Happy Birthday, Origin of the Species!
On (Breaking) Childhood Rules
As a child, there were two hard and steadfast rules that reigned in my house:
- Joy is not allowed to sing at the dining room table
- Joy is only allowed to listen to holiday music from 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day until 9 a.m. on January 7th.
While these two rules may sound a little harsh, they were necessary. As I child, I spent the whole day singing. The one break my poor parents asked for was dinnertime. And even then, I was occasionally known to make up a song about asking my mom to please pass the potatoes. Without the holiday music rule, I would be listening to Jingle Bells well into July.
During the last two weeks, my iPod has tried to rebel. Every other song is “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” or “Silver Bells.” Usually I hold to my guns and skip the song. Because I know my mother can sense when I break the rules.
This morning I caved. When “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” came on, I listened to it. All the way through. When I arrived to work, I had an e-mail from my mom, telling me she knew that I had broken down.
The woman is a psychic.
Joy is like a character straight out of Glee. Scarily so.
