That Ol' Sixties Carpet

My carpet is golden yellow, stained up, and genuinely thrashed. I have known no other carpet. I took my first steps on this carpet, spilled my first cup of juice on this carpet, and slept on it. I am assuming it is the original carpet put in to the house in the sixties. One only has to look at it to make this assumption.

I always wondered in my self-conscious youth why my parents didn't just get new carpet. I knew they made enough money. I was blown away. Everybody else seemed to get something new at the first sign of wear and tear, or when their material was just "out of date." This goes beyond the carpet really. My house is a time capsule. Anybody who has been here knows this. It has changed a little bit over the years, but it has that genuine sixties feel because it really is that genuine sixties feel.

I now understand, though, why they have never gotten new carpet, or new shelves, tile, cupboards, sinks, couches, and the list goes on forever. My parents would rather have a stocked up refrigerator, shelves overflowing with food, money to spend on things that counted, a healthy savings account, investments, and in brief: FREEDOM FROM DEBT.

This is one of the most important principles I have ever learned. You truly don't need the newest thing to survive and really, it makes a house great. When people can come over and accidentally spill some beverage on the carpet and we all say "Oh, don't worry about. It's just an old, piece-of-crap carpet anyway!" there is a sense of comfort and freedom from worry of breaking something, or messing up something. People can sleep wherever they want. There isn't that stupid "parlor room" old woman have that serves no purpose. There is nothing more uncomfortable to me than one of those fancy pants houses with untouchables and breakables overflowing. And, of course, there are the two stressed out parents looming over, worried sick about you destroying their valuables purchased on credit. And, of course, when you are there, you end up destroying their most treasured item and end up feeling like COMPLETE CRAP. Is it worth the stress to have these things?

That house sucks. Plain and simple.

Oh, yeah, and that house, ironically, never has any food. Lame. They bought rims for the Hummer instead.