Four Girls, Mom, and a Bathroom

Living with four daughters must have been quite an experience for our dad. I am sure that is one of the reasons why he lost his hair so early in life. We weren't too far along in our development (notice I didn't say "too old") when a bathroom was added in the basement, along with two more bedrooms. However, the main bathroom was still upstairs. As you can see by this picture, most of our primping was done with everyone trying to fit into the bathroom. I'm not sure why Dad took a picture of this. He probably just wanted to capture this wonderful moment so we would never forget it.

This picture had to be taken during the 1973-74 school year because I am wearing that "PepClub" uniform we had that year. Yes, back in those days we had a pep club that wore uniforms and we all sat together in the student section and cheered loudly together. We had organized hand motions and everything. We were the loud-mouths in school. I was known as the loudest yeller in the school. This year I was even given an award from the cheerleaders for being the best pepper in school.

Now, just look at me back there in the corner....short gray jumper, long-sleeved gold turtle-necked sweater, and I even look a little bit tall compared to my sisters! Of course, Linda and Julie are still in their infancy, but hey, I am tall!

But this isn't about me....What I want you to notice is the RED bathroom. If you could see the floor you would see RED SHAG carpet, red and black....In a bathroom? What was Mom thinking? And pink walls. The white draped lights were very popular then.....We really thought our bathroom as pretty. Is it any wonder why I can't decorate now? Not complaining, Mom, but really red shag carpet in a bathroom? At least the toilet was private behind the red screen-window. (Point of interest here: See that white thing in Ruanne's hair? That is a "steam roller". Do girls even know what rollers are these days, let alone a steam-roller? Oh, the burned fingers, but better than sleeping on brush rollers all night.)

Another thing, can you imagine four girls in a bathroom at one time? I say this because we really did have two bathrooms to share. Fast-forward 20 years and you come to the house my children grew up in. (I know, grammatically incorrect, but....) We only have ONE bathroom. Yes, ONE for all six of us. That is why I got the habit of waking up at 4:30 before school. Someone had to start early and it was always me. And we lived through it. And we survived. There were several times when we refinanced our house to get money to put in another bathroom downstairs, but the money then was used for other emergencies. Bathrooms are just not my priority, until I need one. We survived with one bathroom. I know it would be great to have another one downstairs when we have family come in. And we would really like to get one. But for some reason, other things become a priority. Besides, why would I want to clean two bathrooms? I don't like cleaning the one I have now. Maybe some day we will have another one. Maybe, maybe not. My children will always be able to say "You don't have it as bad as I did growing up. We only had ONE bathroom."