Skip to main content

Priorities

When I was a teenager, I went to Montreal to spend time with the Barry's. John called to say he would take me out to lunch and show me the points of interest in Montreal. At the end of the day he then gave me some money to buy something to read on the ride home. At that time, the "shocking" magazines were... True Confessions etc. This was taboo back then and something you could never read at home. I thought " no one will know, so why not?"
When I came out of the store, John was waiting for me and asked me what I bought. I thought "he is cool, he won't care". Much to my surprise, he freaked out at me. "Why would you buy this, it's garbage." I was shocked and said, "I thought you were more open minded!" He said, "O hell, I don't care about the content... but I would much rather see you reading : Lady Chatterley's Lover." (Now by today's standards that was nothing, but back in 1960, that book was banned. ) He went on to say " At least that book had literary value but the magazine was pure garbage." So even back then, his priorities were the development of my mind, not my morals. It's funny what we remember!

Aunt Maureen

Comments

Great story, Mom! So, did you ever read Lady Chatterley's Lover?

Colleen
Vera Wood said…
Aunt Maureen, I'm shocked!!
I also used to read those magazines. And I also got caught, but my mother never refered me to anything jucier, she just stole my mag.

Popular posts from this blog

Bochsler Family Update

Last week I tried to "encourage" my family to post to this blog. I sent them all TERRIBLE pictures of themselves and threatened to post them here if they didn't post their own. Although they all responded soon enough to my threat, nobody has updated this blog yet. To be fair, this sort of thing is easier for me to do so I'll give a general update on the family. I won't post those nasty pictures just yet, because I'm sure there are some of me floating around and I don't want to start a war. You may remember there are 6 kids, in order of age: Mark, Colleen, Paul, David, Kathleen & Kevin. Hearing it listed like that reminds me of being called for dinner. :) Mom and Dad (Maureen and Al) are both in good health and living in that big house you remember in Ancaster. The house and property itself would look very different to many of you as my Dad's projects have really transformed the place. There are no more big willow trees (and no more treehouse!) :( ...

Remembering Sean

The remaining Barrys. This picture was taken at Sean's funeral. Sean's absence is definitely felt. The last time I saw Sean, was about a year ago, the end of March '06. My husband, Brian and I showed up unannounced at his place and he graciously entertained us. If he had other plans, he never mentioned them. My brother, Brian has a pub in Camrose, AB. Sean apparently would stop in daily and drink coffee, wanting to stay in touch. Brian had a new year's eve party a couple of month previous, so I asked Sean if he'd gone. He said no, he'd quit drinking and realized that a new years eve party would probably not be conducive to achieving his goals. He'd also recently quit smoking. I remember thinking that was a lot to give up all at once, but of course didn't want to say anything to discourage him. Sean also had a dream to buy himself all new camping gear and go on a camping trip. This he did at the end of the summer. After achieving his goals, his heart gave...