The Summer of Toilets

We had neighbors when I grew up that had two sons, one was two years older and one was two years younger than I was.  We did lots of things together throughout my childhood and then invariably lost touch as we each went our own ways for higher education and the start of our own lives as adults.   I remember one of the last summers before the oldest son, Jeff, moved away to college and his summer job cleaning toilets.

That's right, he was going to clean toilets.  And he was thrilled about it.  He never struck me as a nature boy, but he had gotten a job at a large natural park in the mountains and the entirety of his duties was to keep the public restrooms clean at one of the camp sites.  The best thing about this job, he told me, was that the total amount of work you had to do was low on both time and effort (or at least that's what he had heard.)  He told me between the shifts of cleaning toilets, he got to spend all his time in the forest and park areas.  And, as the best part he told me, he got to sleep outside, in a tent, every night.

You know how you hear something someone else is excited about and you inwardly shudder because it is so absolutely not something you would want to do or experience?  That's how I felt when he told me.  Toilets I had and could clean; but selecting a job where I would clean toilet after toilet, every day, all summer long, was something I would run from, not seek out. 

And that sleeping outdoors thing?  Sure, nature is nice, but I wasn't ever a campy person.  I suppose it's because my family vacations never included camping and I wasn't born from camping stock, but either way, the thought of being away from air conditioning, television and the comforts of home seemed like punishment, not a fabulous summer job opportunity.

I haven't thought about Jeff or his younger brother, Joey, in a long time until our long car trip two days ago.  We stopped at a large rest stop and as I exited the very nice, clean public bathroom area I saw the person who was coming in to clean the ladies room  That's when the memorie of Jeff and his huge smile came back to me as he told me about his summer job so many years ago.

The Big Boy Update:  Anything that moves.  He can hone in on a vehicle faster than a cheetah that hasn't eaten in a week.  Daddy got a remote controlled boat for the pool in my in-laws back yard in Florida.  My son is enamored with driving it and talking about it and putting passengers and driver mini people in it,   He also wants to put the control box in the water too, which would end the whole remote control component of the fun.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The curls.  Her hair is growing and we've gotten to a point now where we're putting her through Baby Bow Bootcamp so that she'll leave a bow in her hair which is needed to keep the longer locks out of her eyes.  Also, it's getting more curly.  I expected it to get longer, I didn't expect it to develop such cute curls.

Someone Once Said:   I don’t give a damn what The Oxford English Dictionary says!  As long as I am head of this household, language used in it will conform to my notions of propriety!