A Distant Memory brought to my mind

This post by Antique Mommy made me laugh, but also brought to my mind an experience that happened to me 20 years ago. My own memory of that day also makes me better able to sit back and enjoy Jen's 2 year old triplets.

But to start at the beginning of this memory I suppose I would have to go back even further - 15 more years or so.

Back to a time when I would visit my Mamaw & Pappy's house. If you are anywhere near my age you will know what I am describing - which is good because I could not find a picture of one for anything. Their furnace in the living room was about butt height on an adult. I know this because I can clearly remember adults always leaning back on it to warm themselves when they would come in. It was about 3 feet wide and had I would lay on the floor in front of it to watch TV with my feet up on that furnace.

I would keep my feet up there so long that you could actually smell the threads on my socks getting hot - why - I don't know. But I always did. The top of that furnace consisted of hundreds of tiny circles that the heat would blow out of when the furnace kicked on.

Now - fast forward to the summer of 1986. Andi and Zac were 2. We lived in an old farm house in Illinois. Here is a picture from that summer. Oh, they look so sweet and innocent, don't they? The house was built where the kitchen was the main room and it seemed as if every other room was built off of it. When I walked into the house and saw the same heater that had been in my grandparent's home, I wanted this house. So we bought it and I proceeded to paint the kitchen white and blue. It was so cute and I loved it.

The bathroom was right off of the kitchen -- as were the bedrooms for the kids and the living room. With just one gate I could corral Andi and Zac into the kitchen while I took a shower. Which is exactly what I did one day after we had been working in the garden all morning. We brought in our bounty and I left them playing peacefully in the floor while I went to shower.

Oh the sounds they were making were joy to my ears. I could hear them laughing and giggling, so I just stayed in there, luxuriating in the long shower till the water ran cold and I was forced to vacate the premises and return to my life.

Of course since then I have learned that laughing and giggling while mom is in the shower is not necessarily a good thing. But this is something I learned that day and before then, I was ignorant to this fact.

Upon returning to my life I was welcomed by what can only be described as a combination of the most hilarious and awful mess I have ever seen or cleaned. There were my darling children, still laughing wildly as they slid across the floor slip-n-slide style in dozens of squashed tomatoes. They were covered head to toe in tomato pulp. There were tomatoes splashed on every surface of my newly painted kitchen from about 4 foot down.

Previously to their new life as a slip-n-slide these tomatoes had been on top of the furnace. There were so many they practically covered the top of the furnace. I suppose in an effort to be helpful, they had also grated some tomatoes on those hundreds of little holes in top of the furnace. It was quite obvious that LOTS of tomatoes were grated over the top of those hundreds of little holes. There was no way for me to get it all out.

This was one of those times in life where you can either laugh or cry. I'm not a crier. I'm a laugher. Turns out I'm a re-painter too. And as a reminder of their escapade, every time that furnace kicked on after that, the entire house would take on the smell of tomato soup. Every time.