As I help my own 23-year-old son search for his first rental, it has sort of dawned on me. I sure lived in some shit hole places over my lifetime! (but never really realized it) I’d say from 1988-from HS graduation, through college graduation (1992); these were the pinnacle of my shit hole residencies.

Don’t get me wrong. At the time, I LOVED these places! Above is the cabin my older sister lived in after her HS graduation. (we are posing with our father-who closed the deals on many of our rental choices up in the Okoboji area…he had connections) I have fond memories of going to visit her and drinking fuzzy navels after she got off work. Yes, this cabin had lots of spiders…Ah, the days where you could stay up all night and drink without worrying about a head ache. #GenX

Usually these cabins I lived in, I had room mates. Sometimes, a lot of them. I remember one summer where I lived in a cabin where there were 5-6 other girls, and the cabin wasn’t much bigger than this one. I slept on a cot outside the bathroom. But hey, it was on the lake, people!

I’m realizing, after touring some spots with my son…these aren’t shit hole places. Um, they’re damn nice places? DAMN nice! Like, some apartment complexes have pools, some houses have saunas, they have ‘socializing’ areas….WTF. I guess, as Gen X-ers especially…as I’m a proud member of that generation….we just didn’t really realize or know that we were living in such bad areas. They were cheap. We only made $5 or so bucks an hour. I get it – times have changed. But Gen X is known for just grinning and bearing it. I feel like this is one of those examples.

Anyway, those were just some short, deep thoughts on my brain for a Friday.