Diff'rent Strokes

The longer Erin and I have been married, the more apparent it has become that we grew up in different worlds. Now the obvious difference is that I grew up here in the midwest with our hometown values and Bible-belt sensibilities, while she grew up in California.

But the differences run deeper than that. It seems to me that Erin somehow missed out on some of what we Hoosiers would consider "the finer things."

1. Erin grew up eating avacados and hummus (which my dear mother pronounces like the Islamic group). I grew up eating baloney sandwiches. She also never ate Spaghetti O's or American cheese. I repeatedly am given a lecture about how American cheese isn't really a cheese. Whatever.

2. Erin got to go to Disneyland "all the time." In Indiana, elementary school kids would sell their kidneys for a trip to Disney World. (Nobody here even knew DisneyLAND existed.)

3. I grew up listening to my parent's music from the 60's. Erin didn't know who Simon & Garfunkel were until we got married. Oy. (Incidentally she did know all the lyrics to every "song" ever released by Salt 'n' Pepa.)

4. Erin and her mom were very, uh, open in talking about, uh, what happens when people, er, go to, uh, bed with each other. I was born through spontaneous combustion. That's all I needed to know.

5. I got to ride my bike throughout the neighborhoods surrounding my own for hours at a time. Erin got to make one loop. And she carried a handgun.

This list is endless, really. I'm sure this isn't the last post on this topic.