I Love It Now
Sometimes we make up our mind early about stuff – and those opinions stick with us forever.
Some of the things I loved as I kid I still love:
– Clothes so soft they make you hug yourself.
– Warm beach sand squishing through your toes.
– Tuna sandwiches with a side of potato chips.
And some things that I hated I still hate :
– Mushrooms. I was probably no more than two the first time I spit one out, and I’ve been spitting them out now for sixty years.
– Plaid. My mother loved plaid. I hated it. I still hate it. Plaid is for boys. Most especially brown plaid.
– Clowns – who were invented by adults to scare the crap out of their children, all while pretending they actually loved their kids.
Yes, most Loves and Hates can last a lifetime.
But sometimes your opinion can change.
Come to think of it, though, I can’t right now name a single thing that I loved as a child that I don’t still love. So perhaps Love lasts forever. I still want peanut butter. And yellow rubber boots.
So maybe only Hate can change.
Despite how much you hated something as a kid, you may find that over time (or sometimes even suddenly) you have a love for that previously detested thing.
For instance – as a kid I hated Elvis. I thought he was dumb in every way. I didn’t like his looks or his songs. His movies were corny. But (despite that fact that his movies are still awful), I found as I got older that his voice soothed me, and I see a vulnerability in the face in which I had previously seen such artificiality.
This is the face I choose to remember.
Vegetables. When I was a little girl, my mother would put ten peas on my plate, and not allow me to get up from the table until I had eaten them. Sometimes I sat at the table for a very long time. I would eat NO veggies at all. Except for corn-on-the-cob, which some people call a grain, but is essentially a butter delivery vehicle.
But now, vegetables somehow taste wonderful: peppers and onions and spinach and zucchini and green beans and broccoli and peas (yes, even more than ten) and asparagus and artichokes and beets and oh-my-god butternut squash and – I can’t believe I am even writing this – brussels sprouts.
But the most astonishing turnaround from Loathing to Love is this:
Bedtime.
How I detested going to bed. My sisters were older than I, and got to stay up later, which was entirely unfair since I was so much more alert at nine PM than they were. And I knew what I was missing out on. All the best TV shows started at nine. My bedroom was near the living room and I could hear “The Danny Thomas Show” and “Hawaiian Eye” – which had Troy Donahue, for crying out loud.
And I did cry out loud. I cried and begged and pleaded to stay up late. Especially on Wednesdays.
Wednesday was “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. I could hear my sisters laughing. I could hear my mother laughing. And I could hear my father HOWLING. How I wanted to see what was making Daddy howl! It is no comfort to me that years later I got to see Dick Van Dyke in syndication until I knew every episode by heart. What I wanted was to be in the living room at 9PM.
But how things change.
Is there anything sweeter than bedtime?
Tucking yourself into that cozy bed, under that nice big quilt – and letting the dark quiet envelop you?
Just thinking about it – I can hardly wait .. and I am writing this at 2:05.
Each year I get to go to bed a little earlier. What sweet comfort.
I figure in two years I’ll be having dinner at 4:30 so I can be in bed by 6:00.
- Posted in: Aging ♦ Humor ♦ Memories ♦ Television
- Tagged: Bedtime, Childhood Memories, Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke, Elvis, Hawaiian Eye, Plaid, Troy Donahue, tuna sandwiches, vegetables
notquiteold 
We are clearly the same person. I too hate plaid — my sisters loved it and I was forced to wear their hand-me-downs. I hate it still. But veggies are magical, even brussels sprouts. And Elvis? Yup. Even Elvis.
LikeLike
And I hope you enjoy an early bedtime.
LikeLike
Oh not tonight. Downton Abbey … ’nuff said.
LikeLike
Love this! It “hit home” with me on many accounts: tuna and potato chips (I used to put the chips ON my tuna sandwich at lunchtime at school). Troy Donahue (sigh). Dick Van Dyke is probably my favorite TV show of all time, I now love veggies AND bedtime!
LikeLike
I liked chips on my sandwich and my burger…but I thought it would be too weird to say so. Now I know I’m not alone.
LikeLike
I love bed time so much it isn’t even funny. I keep trying to explain to small children that one day, they will be BEGGING to go to sleep. They will see.
LikeLike
I guess when you are little you are afraid you’ll miss something while you are sleeping. When you’re older you are only afraid to miss sleeping.
LikeLike
Oh boy, can I relate to this post (well, except for brussels sprouts – I still don’t like them). My bed has become one of my favourite places and bedtime has definitely moved ‘up’ over the years. In fact, it’s 6:55 right now … I better go!
LikeLike
“nighty-night”
LikeLike
My greatest hate turned to love is naps. How I hated them when I was a kid. But now they are a favorite thing for sure.
LikeLike
Naps are a special delight,
LikeLike
Weirdly, my bedtime has gotten later each year. But my sleeping in time has also gotten later (when I have a choice). And I do remember loathing staying in bed in the mornings as a child.
LikeLike
Oh no, when I was a kid I hated getting up in the morning,
LikeLike
Oh, we must be sorta-sisters or something. I listened to one of my husbands Elvis CDs today (shhh…he still thinks I don’t care for him). And soft clothes – I can only wear certain fabrics next to my skin for sleeping – the softest cotton knits available. I always loved vegetables, though, except beets. Beets are nasty. Or maybe I should try them again? I go to be earlier and earlier, but find I can’t sleep in at all. I am up at 5 most every morning – working or not. It is sad.
LikeLike
I have an old bladder and an old cat…. no sleeping late for me,
LikeLike
Love this post….. soft clothes, bedtime and naps… we are all one.
LikeLike
It’s all about comfort.
LikeLike
I will join you eating at 4:30 and going to bed at 6 but only in the winter
LikeLike
You’re right – I may stay up til 8:30 in the summer.
LikeLike
love your new pic
LikeLike
Ah, soft clothes, naps, early bed. Does it get any better than that? Excellent piece.
Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
Well I still can’t abide sprouts and I love mushrooms but boy do I love my bed! My OH and I laughed the other evening when we were tucked up in bed by 09:30 with hot chocolate, iPads and a pile of books – we think we’re turning into Charlie Bucket’s grandparents! 🙂
LikeLike
I think you speak for many of us.
LikeLike
I love this! You really hit the mark, and I, too, share many of your “loves” and “hates” and even changing hates! Thanks!
LikeLike
How could we have ever thought that sleep was something to fight?
LikeLike
I have always loved bedtime, except when Star Trek, SNL or Monty Python were on – very late. I was allowed to stay up Friday or Saturday nights if they were on. I don’t think I would have been allowed to stay up on a school night but I don’t remember the issue coming up. I loved (and still love) sleeping.The child is father (mother) of the (wo)man.
I never had to lie in bed, listening to the others watch and laugh at a show that I wanted to watch. That seems a little cruel. On the other hand, if it was a Wednesday night, you did need to go to bed. Your parents had your best interests at heart.
How you feel about mushrooms – that is how I feel about split pea soup. I was served pea soup when I was not quite four and I spit it out and my father sent me away from the table. As an adult I thought I would try it – it looked good, smelled good, everyone said it was good, and my tastes had changed so much since I was four. I put it in my mouth and immediately put it out of my mouth and have never allowed it back it my mouth.The child is father (mother) of the (wo)man.
Hard-cooked eggs are another problem, and, unlike split pea soup, they keep cropping up, They are a big problem because they often crop up in salads and other places. I find the mealy yolk hard to swallow and the sulphur smell of the whites intolerable. I didn’t like them as a kid, and once a JHS science teacher made us sit in our chairs while he burned sulphur (he is in prison now, thank God) I found the smell even more intolerable.
Soft clothes – especially at bed. Flannel only. I want terry cloth, though, for my bath robes, not that funny soft stuff – is it fleece? The soft stuff makes my skin itch. Annoying that men still get terry cloth robes.
Brussels sprouts – try steaming them till they are not quite done (and how done you want them is a matter of taste.) Cut them in half, finish cooking them in butter, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Do not allow them to get mushy.
Up to age eight I would only eat raw vegetables (except for celery) and cooked corn and green beans. After age eight I discovered the joy of veggies. It is interesting about celery – I always wanted it in tuna salad but I did not like celery sticks, even spread with peanut butter or served with a dip. Now at age 48 I want celery in my tuna salad, I want it in my stuffing, i want it where it is supposed to be, but I will never like raw celery sticks. The child is father (mother) of the (wo)man.
I didn’t like cheese when I was a kid. I like it now but I sitll do not like most of the cheeses we had when I was a kid. I do not like Swiss or Gruyere. I do not like Munster or Liederkranz or Monterey Jack. The child is father (mother) of the (wo)man.
Never got into Elvis, though I stopped turning up my nose at him and learned to appreciate him for his contributions to the world of music. I was surprised to find myself listening to Johnny Cash in college. JC was someone my grandmother liked. It was my brother who informed me that JC was cool and it was OK to listen to him. The child can change.
LikeLike
I am not crazy about the taste of celery – but it is a good dip-delivery vehicle, what with that little groove and all.
I do not like bleu cheese or any very smelly cheese.
I love pea soup – I like to call it Potage St Germaine, since that is so classy sounding.
Johhny Cash is defnitely cool.
My parents were extremely cruel putting me to bed when Dick Van Dyke was on. I thought often of calling Child Protective Services.
LikeLike
I often want to steal your blog ideas, but I can’t because you read my blog. This is one.
I buy online only from sites that I know have soft fabrics. In a store I touch everything–probably makes the mgr nuts.
My grown children taught me about roasted fresh brussels sprouts and roasted butternut squash.. That was weird. We didn’t eat them while they were little.
LikeLike
No reason why I can’t “inspire” you… go right ahead!
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
It seems there are many of us ‘sisters’ with the same likes and dislikes. I was one of those who also put the potato chips right on the tuna fish sandwich…loved the added salty crunch. And I detested mushrooms until recently…cream of mushroom soup and mushrooms sauted in butter are comfort foods, but still yukky in salads. And I once saw Troy Donahue live at a local amusement park (probably about 1959) and it blew away my thoughts of him being a dreamboat…he had way too much pancake makeup on. Anyway, I love your posts! 🙂
LikeLike
This is priceless, especially: “…essentially a butter delivery vehicle.”
I’m with you about bedtime too but in my case it wouldn’t hurt to go to bed without supper once in a while…tee hee.
LikeLike
Wow. Pretty much agree with everything except bedtime … unfortunately, I’m nocturnal and have been since i hit puberty. Not that I didn’t lie away and while away the darkness with mental story telling when I was younger, just that I couldn’t do anything about bedtime until I was in high school. My bedtime is midnight or after, even when employed with an 8am due in time. When not, you don’t want to know how late i’ve been known to suddenly discover what time it is … and there was the month when my mom and I, many many moons ago, suddenly found ourselves going to bed at sunrise and getting up at 2pm … I really need a new career so i can make use of my skewed time sense .. LOL. Delightful blog.
LikeLike
I confess I do love the plaid. Maybe not a brown plaid, but a red or green plaid works for me. I used to have a pink plaid shirt that I practically lived in.
There is only one thing that I can think of that I went from love to hate. Salmon. I ate salmon on a regular basis. Loved the stuff. Broiled, baked, in a sandwich, in a salad, I would eat it every day. One day when I was working on getting all my weight off a Doctor who had told me to stop eating salmon, told me to start taking taking these Omega 3 Salmon Oil pills.
“Wait a minute Doc. Why can’t I just eat the salmon?”
If you ate the amount of salmon it would take to get what is in this capulet you would die of Mercury poison.”
Never had salmon again and even when my husband wants me to make him a salmon sandwich I gag and choke while I am making it is ridiculous.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this post, and I relate to so much, but particularly to your take on Elvis, which I reacted to in the same manner, and now appreciate his voice more, and also see that vulnerability in him. Great post! Jerri
LikeLike
well, i have the four little ones, so i can’t go to bed as early as i’d like (oh, and that bothersome thing called “work”). but, hubby has taken to asking me right after dinner, “you going to bed?” that’s a little early for me now, but i figure in a few years i’ll just save time and take my dinner up to my bed with me.
LikeLike
I always wonder how you come up with posts that reflect my own inner thoughts and memories. This is yet another wonderful example. Now i will be going over my own love/hate relationships from childhood to this venerable age. 🙂
LikeLike
Just last night I was thinking how absolutely delicious it is to slide into bed! (It WAS 11.) And, oh, the joy of naps. My niece’s mother-in-law has a needlepoint pillow that says “What a wonderful thing to do nothing, then rest afterward.” An anthem, me thinks.
LikeLike