The boot

One of the disadvantages of having a large family is the limited bathroom space. It is even more of a challenge when you are frequently being watched by being in a very controlled environment. OK I guess I will get right down to it. One of the methods my mother used to “babysit” some of us was to put is in a room and lock the door. Sever of the bedrooms had the latch and eyelet hooks on the outside of the door. Sound like no really big deal until you look at the potential for problems. What if there were an emergency? With a big family there is always the potential for issues and it can be a really challenge to watch a large number of kids, especially if your heart is not in it. I was very young probably ten years old when the “babysitter” was in place and we could not get out of the room. We had windows and they did open but they were high off the ground and we had no way of getting back in if we chose to jump the four or five feet to get to the ground. There were some times when we would be locked in our room for many hours at a time. I learned early on not to make a great deal of noise about being locked in the room. We were on the other side of this old farm house which had been set up as a duplex. So you could not be heard unless you were screaming at the top of your lungs. If you got my mother attention the attention she gave you was not good. Fortunately for us it was upstate NY and as such there were long winters and with winters came boots, not just warm boots but in many cases waterproof boots. Mind you it was not winter for this particular memory in fact is was a beautiful sprint or summer time and we did not want to be in this locked room. I don’t remember how long we had been in the room. It might have only been a half an hour it might have been four. But regardless there was an emergency and my mother was not hearing the cry for help. So the emergency was an incredibly full bladder and no relief in sight. We could not get out the door to the very next room which was the bathroom. We Could not jump out the window because we could not get back in. We could however unload the closet of winter cloths and find the boot. It is amazing the relief the boot provided. The beauty of this approach was once we were released from the “babysitter” we could secretly relieve the boot of its cargo and a little rinse and dry time and it was as good as new. We did not have to use this approach often but considering the door was latched from the outside more than once it was nice to know we had some relief with us.