Once in a blue moon, my parents would go out of town and leave me at home. Those were some of the happiest times of my teenage existence.  Mom ran a very tight ship, so it was a vacation itself to not have her around to crack the whip.

I would eat nothing but junk food and never made my bed.  Sometimes to be super rebellious (are you sitting down?)… I would even eat in the living room!  *GASP*  I knew that would kill my mom… and something about it felt so right.  I never dreamed of having a party or inviting a boy over since I had very overprotective neighbors keeping a close watch on the house.  But I could stay up super late and make a big mess without anyone knowing.  And that was enough for me!

As long as the carpet still had its vacuum tracks, I never got busted.  To make my vacation even sweeter, I would run the vacuum over the carpet to make the tracks without even plugging it in. At least it LOOKED clean.  *evil laugh*  Mom never knew… those tracks were gold… carpet with tracks was clean carpet that hadn’t been stepped on.  It never occurred to her how crafty I actually was.

It’s odd because I live my adult life almost as if I was a teenager left alone at home.  I rarely make my bed.  I walk around in my underwear.  I keep things tidy, but I really only clean the house if someone’s coming over (but I DO turn on the vacuum cleaner).  I stay up late.  I always eat in the living room.  It’s so funny (or sad?) to be rebelling against Mom as an adult… but something about it feels so right.