Saturdays with Grandma

For most of my childhood, Saturdays were spent with my maternal grandmother (aka Grandma C.) My other grandma,Grandma F., lived in the Caribbean, and I only saw her once a year, usually during my summer vacations. I loved Grandma C., but I adored the fact that she had a television. For a while I had a tiny three-inch black and white television/radio that was stuck on one channel, PBS. Eventually, my father discovered a way to change the channels by cutting a small hole into the top of the device and then sticking a narrow object (a single chopstick worked best) down into the hole until it made contact with the wheel that changed the channel internally. For one glorious year I had channel-changing abilities, but then the TV gave out completely, and all I got was static.

So Saturday nights at grandma’s were a delight for me. Grandma C. had a big, beautiful, color television with a remote control (something my tiny black and white lacked). My Saturday night routine was unchanging. I would drag the twin mattress from her guest bedroom, lay it in front of the television, prop my head up on a pillow, and fill my stomach with Grandma’s delicious Rice Krispies treats and Sunkist orange soda as I watched a gluttonous amount of television. When my palate matured, I switched from orange soda to ginger ale, but other than that, my Saturday night routine remained unchanged for years.