H.M. Stoner Ink And Image

I have finally reached the age where I notice the way the world has changed since my youth. I often long for a simpler time. A time when people were not mad at literately everything. A time when you weren’t judged so harshly for making mistakes. A time when you could just have fun and enjoy life.

There are several moments from my early childhood that stand out when I think about how times have changed. I’m sure this is not uncommon for most adults. But the more adults I meet, the more I begin to realize that the things I did as a child were not at all normal. In fact, they were pretty EPIC to say the least.

As a Mom in her thirties, I don’t play very many pranks any more. However, a little known fact about me is that I LOVE them. When I think about why I love them, it doesn’t take me long to reach into my earliest memory of my very first prank.

With help and inspiration, from my moms younger sister, I used several cans of shaving cream to cover my grandfathers side of the bed. Carefully putting the top sheet and comforter back in its place as to not alert him. The idea was, that since he never folds the blankets back, he would simply lift them and slide right into bed….undoubtedly covering him in shaving cream. Unfortunately…. we covered the wrong side! When my grandparents went to bed, it was my grandmother who got covered in the shaving cream and my grandfather who had a great laugh.

When my mom and her life long best friend get together and reminisce about the shenanigans they use to get into, there is one little detail that seems to get left out… ME. Not only was I was a witness to their craziness, I may have been a co conspirator.

My mother and her BFF accomplice, the OG Pranksters, took me along with them as they carefully adorned my uncles front yard with toiled paper, and assorted foods. Also putting items in the cars tail pipe, and gas tank! Waiting in the car for them I thought of myself as the “Get A Way” driver, even though getting my license wouldn’t happen for another 10 years or so.

Once back at my grandparents house, I was feeling a little left out, since they didn’t let me help with the decorations. So naturally it was decided they would let me TP my grandfathers freshly planted baby trees. Seriously, these trees were no bigger then I was, and mummifying them at 11:00pm was the “the greatest thing ever” In my young mind. That was of corse until I woke up the next day to my grandfather covering my face in shaving cream as a “Payback” for all the things I had done.

In todays society a prank of that magnitude would likely land me in some hot water, and for sure would cause a social media shit storm. My ability to raise my children would come into question and I would be shunned from the mom groups.

So for now at least, I will continue to reminisce about the “Good Ole Days” and continue to plot what kind of pranks I will pull on my own kids once they are all grown and I am old enough to get a way with it.