16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 27, 1912: I helped Ruth decide a question this morning. She was invited out to spend the evening and staid all night. I decided that she should accept the invitation and so she did. But the other part is that I will have her milking tomorrow morning.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
There are trade-offs to everything. In this diary entry Grandma was weighing the benefits and “costs” of her sister Ruth staying overnight at a friend’s house.
Benefit
Peace and quiet: Grandma got a quiet evening alone without Ruth. She shared a bedroom with her sister, so she also would have had the room to herself.
“Cost”
More work: In exchange for the peace and quiet Grandma had to milk more cows than usual in the morning.
Maybe she was also thinking about when she wanted to go spend the night at a friends.
I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re are probably right. If she does her sister’s chores, her sister will probably reciprocate.
Love it. Real life with a teenager, for sure! 😉
Sometimes I’m glad that I’m way past my teen years.