Write about a privilege you earned. 

Time to put on the ol’ thinking cap.

This is the oddest thing. I can’t think of a single privilege I have ever earned. How strange is that? I have been sitting here for seriously ten minutes and I haven’t come up with anything.

As a little girl, I was not offered rewards or privileges for doing chores or minding, I was rewarded with not getting a spanking.

One awesome privilege I got in first grade was getting to read out loud to the class, but I didn’t really earn that, unless getting taught to read when I was three constitutes “earning” something. That was amazingly cool though. Mrs. Jones would have me read all of the time. I even got to read the filmstrips (and push the little button to go to the next slide) while she graded papers.

No privileges earned in elementary, so I’ll try to think about my later school days. Did I ever earn a privilege? I guess I earned things when the whole class did – soda pop parties for collecting the most Campbell’s soup labels in middle school; homeroom pizza parties for doing the best with the food drive in junior high; getting to go early for lunch with the rest of my grade for having the most spirit at the pep assembly in high school. But did I ever, singly, earn a privilege?

When I was in the eighth grade, I got to go to a scholastic meet. I did not make good grades in the eighth grade; I didn’t want to be there at all. My principal said they were going to send me because they knew I was smart, and they wanted me to see what kind of rewards went to the students who worked hard. It was fun. I liked riding on the bus with the smart kids, hanging at a college all day, taking the grammar tests, and winning an award (when none of the usual smarties did – double the pleasure). It probably made me want to buckle down and fly right for about twenty minutes. I suppose you could say I earned that, if I earned it by not taking the time to do my homework all year and barely scraping by when I had the potential to do much better.

My parents never withheld things until I did stuff when I was in high school. Maybe it was because I was the third child; maybe it was because I was pretty trustworthy…whatever it was, I was really without too many limits. All my friends had curfews, but I didn’t even have one. I guess it was because I told my parents what I was doing, and where I was going, on my own. I’d drop off my friends before their curfews and then go home. And what would I have done on my own anyway? I didn’t go out all that much anyway. Even in high school, I was more of a homebody. I’d go out occasionally on the weekends and cruise or whatever, but it was mostly because my best friend Tina wanted to, and I wanted to make her happy. So I never “earned” the right to go out driving around, or “earned” a later curfew, or “earned” staying at a friend’s all night or anything like that. It just wasn’t like that.

I mean, I’ve earned stuff, sure. I’ve earned positions in the band (first chair clarinet in high school and college); I’ve earned parts in plays (some great…some not so great); I’ve earned good grades and bad grades; I’ve earned awards and trophies and all kinds of things.

But I can’t say I’ve earned a privilege.

And I have lots of privileges. I am the mom of three pretty incredible people, and I get to live in a darn good county; I get to drive a car whenever I want, and I think I have it pretty nice. There’s some complaints, sure, but nothing to get worked up about.

Didn’t earn any of it really, though.

Was this just really an off-the-wall journal question, or am I the only person who never earned a privilege? Anyone?