Back To The Future
“I feel like a kid again.”
What a great thing to be able to say. Having two young children, and being quite immature, I am lucky to be able to say those words quite often. These days, however, they have taken on a darker, more sinister meaning.
We went from a 2 income / 1 kid family to a 1 income / 2 kid family in the span of about 3 months. I was making decent money at the time, so the decision for my wife to stay home with the little ones made a lot of sense. This lasted for about 2 years, until we slowly realized I was no longer making enough to support a family of 4. We were at a cookout with some friends, and I overheard a couple of guys talking about their paper routes. So I asked a question that would seal my fate for years to come: “You guys do paper routes?”
Lo and behold, paper routes were not for kids any more. When I was 12, I had a paper route. Hell, everyone I knew had a paper route. Now, grown men and women and the ones tasked with leaving your soaking wet paper in the bushes, under the car, or in the neighbors yard. So after a few minutes speaking with the guys about their night jobs, I was convinced this was for me. Only a couple hours a day? The schedule won’t interfere with my “real job”? It pays $150/week plus tips? Sounds too good to be true!!
A few days later, after one of the guys put in a good word for me, a route opened up. I was pumped! With my paper route money, my wife could continue to be a full time mom, and I would still be the man of the house bringing home the bacon. This would strictly be a temporary situation until the economy improved and I was making more money at work. Little did I know at the time how desperately wrong I was…
Driving in at 2:15am for training on day one, I wasn’t feeling much like a kid. I would have been bubbling with anticipation and excitement if it wasn’t for the fact I had slept a grand total of 35 minutes the night before. So with a splitting headache and a mild case of the dry-heaves, I hauled myself up the road. Memories of why I hated doing a paper route as a kid came rushing back at an alarming rate.
What a great thing to be able to say. Having two young children, and being quite immature, I am lucky to be able to say those words quite often. These days, however, they have taken on a darker, more sinister meaning.
We went from a 2 income / 1 kid family to a 1 income / 2 kid family in the span of about 3 months. I was making decent money at the time, so the decision for my wife to stay home with the little ones made a lot of sense. This lasted for about 2 years, until we slowly realized I was no longer making enough to support a family of 4. We were at a cookout with some friends, and I overheard a couple of guys talking about their paper routes. So I asked a question that would seal my fate for years to come: “You guys do paper routes?”
Lo and behold, paper routes were not for kids any more. When I was 12, I had a paper route. Hell, everyone I knew had a paper route. Now, grown men and women and the ones tasked with leaving your soaking wet paper in the bushes, under the car, or in the neighbors yard. So after a few minutes speaking with the guys about their night jobs, I was convinced this was for me. Only a couple hours a day? The schedule won’t interfere with my “real job”? It pays $150/week plus tips? Sounds too good to be true!!
A few days later, after one of the guys put in a good word for me, a route opened up. I was pumped! With my paper route money, my wife could continue to be a full time mom, and I would still be the man of the house bringing home the bacon. This would strictly be a temporary situation until the economy improved and I was making more money at work. Little did I know at the time how desperately wrong I was…
Driving in at 2:15am for training on day one, I wasn’t feeling much like a kid. I would have been bubbling with anticipation and excitement if it wasn’t for the fact I had slept a grand total of 35 minutes the night before. So with a splitting headache and a mild case of the dry-heaves, I hauled myself up the road. Memories of why I hated doing a paper route as a kid came rushing back at an alarming rate.
posted by Comely Marc | 4:55 PM
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