Growing Up Phillips: Sharing Bedrooms

How many kids today share a bedroom?  Probably not as many that did when I was a kid.  We shared bedrooms as kids, even if some of us managed to get our own, the youngest two of my brothers were adults and still sharing a bedroom.  There's only so many bedrooms in a house and when you have more people than bedrooms, you share.  That's just the way it was.

My oldest sister returned home for a few months with her daughter, my niece, when I was seven.  They got my bedroom and I moved in with "the two little boys."  Mind you, the boys were older than I was but they got called "the two little boys" into adulthood and then some.  Anyway, I was 7, Mark was 9 and John was 10.  The room was fairly good sized, 10 x 12 feet I think.  The boys had bunk beds on one side and I had a twin/solo bed on the other.  We changed our clothes in the bathroom or under the covers.  Even though we knew the difference between girls and boys, we didn't need to flaunt it. 

I think the biggest casualty of those six months was the ceiling.  I was pretty gullible as a kid.  My brothers would never tell me a lie or do anything to hurt someone or something...right?  Well John convinced me that root beer tastes better when the bottle was shaken, so I shook it before removing the cap.  Okay, so now the ceiling was stained and dripping root beer on my bed.  So I asked him if that accoustical ceiling could be washed.  John said sure.  Did I mention I was gullible at age 7?  So, here I am, standing on a chair, washing the ceiling with a hot, soapy washrag.  Oh, well, I couldn't reach the ceiling standing on a chair that was on the floor, so the chair was sitting on my bed (get it? bed with chair on top, me on chair).  I knew I was in trouble when with each swipe, the textured ceiling now had a new texture, the one I made with the washrag.  I did the only thing I could do and yelled, "Pa!!!"  Time to fess up.  Time to get into BIG trouble.  I still wonder which I was in trouble for more:

• Gullibility and believing John
• Trying to cover up the mess
• Ruining the ceiling
• Standing on a chair set on top of the bed

My only consolation was that John was in bigger trouble for being the instigator.  On the bright side, I was only 7.  Its not like I was 10 or 14 and should have known better!