“Shut that light out!”
Growing up, my siblings and I constantly heard, "shut that light off!" as we passed through the kitchen on upwards to our rooms. There was no need to keep the kitchen light on after we passed. In the summertime, we'd pull into the long, dark driveway after being out all night and practically feel our way to the back door. "Electricity's expensive." And so it was.
I was always fascinated with the oven light, being able to sit in front of the oven and watch a cake rise, see a chicken brown, keep an eye on the broiling fish. And my mother would always walk into the kitchen and flip the little 'oven light on' switch to 'off'. "You'll burn out the bulb..." Sigh.
It served me well, I suppose, as my frugal side kicks in often.
Fast forward many years, and I find myself cooking and baking in someone else's kitchen. Let's just say someone who views things differently. Yet, who was also raised with Depression-Era parents. After 10 minutes, he waltzes over and turns on the oven light. Well, okay to peek, I thought. But then, he LEFT IT ON! I stood there in the kitchen, bewildered and confused. That took about three seconds, and I snapped back to and shut off the light. Ten minutes later, he came back in and turned the light back on again, had a peek, and I reached over to shut it off again.
He watched this in utter amusement. "What are you doing?" And I explained the 'shut out the light!' and how the bulb would burn out, etc. Calmly, he asked, "in all your life, did you ever have to replace that bulb?"
"No."
"Never."
And we laughed. A lot. The principal was spot on, and to this day, when I make it to the top of my stairs I shut out the light (it served it's purpose, now stop wasting electricity). For years, my neighbor thought I was never home at night, because I didn't turn the outside lights on. Well, why turn them on if I wasn't going out? That was Mom's theory.
As we got older, Mom would turn on the outside lights if you called first to say you were on your way home. My brother once left a quarter by the back door and asked her to keep the lights on all night for him.
It's just perspective.
It's why I find online coupons (thank heavens we don't still have to clip them and carry them around in our wallets), wait to stock up on makeup until the beauty bonus days arrive, and use trade discounts to the max. Yet splurge on quality food and education/coaching, because that sustains me.
So here I sit, taking a break from prepping for Thanksgiving dinner, with the space heater on in the kitchen ("no sense heating up the whole house if you're going to be in the kitchen for hours"), the oven light off (except for a few sneak peeks), a bowl full of scraps to take to the compost pile, the outside lights off (because I'm not going out), and the stereo belting out Big Band music. And life is good... because Mom and Dad taught me how to weather any storm.
Tomorrow, I'll be lining up all the little rosebuds on Mom's china service, lighting candles, sampling the stuffing before it's done, tuning in to hear the annual rendition of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" at noon (really?--and what's your holiday tradition??), counting my blessings with my sons.
I'll turn on the outside lights just long enough to make sure they get back safely into their cars, drive away, then shut them back out again. And giggle.
Happy Thanksgiving!
What do you splurge on? (comment below!)