Having grown up in the 80's and 90's, there was nothing better than a Saturday morning to my childhood mind. After having to suffer through school for the week, Fridays started off that very special feeling. All I needed to do was come home, play with all my stuff, have dinner, watch some Boy Meets World on TGIF, and go to sleep knowing I could sleep in for a little bit the next day. Of course, that little bit was indeed just a little bit because the cartoons started at 8 or 9am. We never had cable, so all I had were the basic TV channels for Saturday morning cartoons. Regardless, believe me there was no feeling better than waking up on a beautiful sunny Saturday Morning, before anyone else in the house, pouring a bowl of cereal and sitting down in front of the old CRT TV to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Then going back to the kitchen multiple times to add more cereal to my already flavored bowl of milk.
I can still remember waking up in the darkness of my room, and walking from the dimly lit hallway into the brightly lit living room. The windows behind the television were on the east-facing side of the house, so on a sunny day the sun shined directly into those windows. I would adjust the amount of sunlight with the blinds, but usually as long as it didn't interfere with the TV's visibility, I allowed as much in as I could. I remember how soft the couches we had throughout my childhood were, and the TV trays we had sitting in the corner of the living room. Everything added up to an amazing start to many of my Saturdays.
For younger Sam, Saturday mornings weren't just about cartoons, multiple bowls of overly sugary cereal, being off school and not having to worry about it for another day, or the inevitable weekend grocery store run that allowed me to go to game stores. No, Saturday mornings were also about the commercials. Fast-paced advertisements that rotted my brain from the start and left me wanting whatever they were selling by the time it was over. Whether it be the newest video game, or a basketball star selling his sneakers, Saturday morning commercials were all part of the package when it came to the routine of Saturday mornings.
Since I've not been a child for over thirty years, I don't know what today's Saturday mornings are like, but I'm sure there are plenty of nostalgic memories being mentally logged on them, just the same as they were back in my day. Things did shift a bit when I got a bit older. As the cartoons I liked stopped airing, cartoons I didn't quite like took their places. That was when video games became the new Saturday morning ritual. Breakfast stayed the same, and the Saturday outing to video game stores became a bit more important, but they still retained that Saturday morning feeling to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment