Being that my family (and most of the Croatian community) were ADHD, life was not always easy for the people that had to deal with us. Back in those days no one knew about ADHD and the old Croatian women thought that their children might have worms because they could never sit still. My mom gave me so much worm medicine it is a wonder that I lived through it. After several months of trying every worm medicine on the market, she decided I was just an evil child and gave up. Then I started school and had to deal with a whole new group of people that really had no clue what a strange person I was.
We played games during recess, "jacks" "mother may I" "hop scotch" "one potato two" "hot potato" (that may be the same game - I can't remember), "square ball" and for the more athletic types, "basketball," or "baseball." There was always some jerk that would cheat - oops -I was the jerk. Consequently, I had few friends. Being ADHD, I did not really care, I just became a mean little kid, so there were even less who tolerated me. ADHD kids do not have a lot of friends because others look at us as some kind of weirdoes (which we are), but there are a few who will put up with our antics, mostly other ADHD kids who have no friends either.
School for me was always a social thing and I would never do homework. I wanted to be good at everything without doing any work. If I applied myself even a little, I would get A's and B's; but most of the time I was too interested in fooling around, talking, throwing things, and getting into trouble. As an ADHD kids I just refused sit still and definitely could not do what I was told, so I became one of the biggest troublemakers all through school. The strange part of being ADHD is that even though you are goofing off in class, anything that is being taught, you remember and somehow manage to ace most of the tests.
In my junior year, we had study hall and for me, it was the hour before lunch. Study hall was in a very large auditorium type room that held about three or four hundred desks, and was three-quarters full every class. I was always hungry during this time, so I would sneak in my lunch and eat it during class. The teacher caught me and said I could not eat in class; I became angry and told her off. I was sent to the principal's office and expelled; and after that, the vice-principal monitored the class. More kids were mad at me. Story of my life....
Another time I was talking to who I thought was the cutest boy in class (this is high school mind you), we were discussing how our grandfathers made their own wine (I think he lied). I had been drinking wine with my meals since I was five (although it was diluted with water). Since I was raised this way, I really did not think wine was liquor that kids could not have. As I said, this was high school; you would think I would have some brains by then, but I guess I was behind the door when they were passed out. I wanted to impress the boy, so I went home, found a Vaseline Hair Tonic bottle, cleaned it out, and went to the basement where the big oak wine barrels sat and proceeded to fill the bottle. The bottle was only about three or four ounces in size, but the wine had aged many years by this time and was very potent. The next day, I gave the prize to the boy and he was impressed - whoo hoo, points for me! During lunchtime, he and his friend got drunk, and when the Vice Principal went to their locker, there was the bottle with a little wine left in it. The boy told on me, of course, and I was expelled again - this time for three days. I guess he was not that impressed with me, darn! My mother was devastated and "lost face" in front of her Croatian friends because I was always in trouble and brought "shame" to her. She sent me to a neighboring town for the three days to stay with my brother and sister-in-law, because she didn't even want to talk to me. That was probably the closest she came to killing one of her kids.
I had an after-school job, but I was supposed to come home on the school bus if I did not have to go to work, of course I didn't always and got into trouble with my poor mother. I became one of "those teenagers" so mom threatened me, "Someday you will have a kid just like you!" I had five of them, thanks mom! Of course, I have passed this curse on to each of my children. This is better than Montezuma's Revenge - it is Mother's Revenge and lasts a lifetime.