PARENTAL RULES WE DITCHED: What’s rule your parents drilled into you that you immediately ditched when you started living on your own? What the internet said…
• I will turn on my air-conditioning whenever I darn well please, and I can eat Lucky Charms for dinner if I want to!
• Saturday morning cleaning. Yeah, no. We clean throughout the week. Don’t have to set aside a day if you keep it clean.
• Meals were eaten at the dining table. I eat on my couch with impunity!
• Leaving the refrigerator open for 10 seconds is not going to bankrupt us.
• My mom acted like if I mixed darks with lights in the washer the world would burn. Just wash your stuff in cold water!
• Cool whip and butter containers are not — I repeat — are NOT Tupperware.
THE FOOTBALL HUDDLE _ Football is back, and when you see players gather in a huddle to call the next play, you can thank Paul D. Hubbard of Gallaudet University, the renowned school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington D.C. In 1894, Hubbard, Gallaudet’s quarterback, began gathering his offense in a tight circle so opposing deaf players could not read the signed signals used to communicate plays. His innovation is generally recognized as the earliest well-supported use of the football huddle, although other schools later claimed similar ideas. The huddle remained uncommon for years, but University of Illinois coach Robert Zuppke helped popularize and standardize it in college football around 1921.
SOME ADULTS SAY THEY’RE ‘TOO BUSY’ TO DRINK MORE WATER _ A survey (by water company Evian) found a little over one in ten adults is “too busy” to drink more water.
COUPLES WHO TRAVEL TOGETHER: WHAT’S YOUR RULE?
• If the trip is a week or longer the return flight needs to land a full two days before we are back to work.
• On long, international trips we pack two suitcases, but not his and hers. Instead, we put some clothing for each of us in each suitcase. That way, if one case goes astray, then we still both have what we need until the missing bag shows up.
• I do the planning and we both have aisle seats.
• All our arguing about logistics, set ups, itinerary, etc. ends the moment we get in the car. At that point it becomes “go with the flow,” “laugh at inconveniences,” and “no matter what happens, we are on vacation.”
• We observe the 2-hour rule: Every 120 minutes, we stop for a meal/coffee/cocktail. It prevents exhaustion and hangriness, and it also happens to be the perfect interval for sunscreen + bathroom + handwashing.
• I stopped waiting for my husband to wake up to do things. When we’re on vacation, I want to be outside as much as possible and he wants to rest more. I’ll go do my thing (go to the pool, go for a walk, etc) by myself and he’ll catch up with me later.
• We plan our first night’s dinner location in advance. Nothing starts a trip off worse than arriving somewhere, looking at each other, and saying, “Where do you want to have dinner?”
• No chain restaurants. Ever! Only local.
• Clean the entire house before you leave. There’s nothing better than coming home to a squeaky-clean house.
