ahh, the memories...

I was reminiscing today with some of my coworkers about the fond memories we have of our childhood. We talked about the games we would play, like Stuck-in-the-Mud and TV Tag. We also talked about how we determined who would be “it” at the beginning of each game. Here are just a few examples that I remember:

Eenie meenie miney moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day
My mother said to pick the very best one
And you are not it.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more

Skunk in the graveyard
Pee-yoo!
Somebody ate it
That’s you!

Inky binky bottle of ink
The cap fell off and you stink

Bubblegum bubblegum in a dish
How many pieces do you wish?

First, second, third,
Military turd!

So anyway, we’re sitting around, reminiscing about all the good times we had, when suddenly I remembered how my sister used to torture me with scary stories of the china doll, the whistle man, and dead man’s curve, just to name a few. For years I could not bring myself to close my eyes in the shower for fear that the china doll would jump on me and scratch me to death. I remember shuddering whenever I would hear the long, shrill call of the whistle man who lived outside near the fire hydrant. Kathy would spin these tales, scare me half to death, and then relish in the fact that I believed her every word, no matter how ridiculous it seemed. I lived half my life in fear of her stories, and the other half was lived in fear of her. Pretty nice system she had going.

Maybe I deserved it, though. I’m not sure if Kathy or any of my other friends ever knew this, but I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how not to be it according to the games I mentioned above. I would simply figure out who I needed to start counting with in order for me not to be it by the end of the game. It took a long time to figure it all out ahead of time, because it all depended on how many people were in on the game.

For example, if there were only two of us and we were doing eenie meenie miney moe, I would start counting with the other person, that way the “and you are not it” would land on me, and I would, therefore, not be it. If there were three of us in the game, however, I would start counting with the person on my right, thereby ensuring that I, again, would not be it. It was simple arithmetic that I’m sure all of us were capable of figuring out, but because the system has the potential to continue ad nauseam, I doubt that any of my friends would ever devote the amount of time necessary to decipher such simple schoolyard games. It did, however, provide me with a certain childish satisfaction.

So anyway, Kathy, thank you for all of the childhood nightmares you so lovingly provided for me through the years…but at least I never had to be it!