I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons growing up.
It was awesome! Saturday morning I woke up, usually around 7 AM, go
and turn the TV on with the volume low. My parents worked throughout
the week so on Saturday morning they liked to sleep in. If I had the
TV on too loud they'd make me turn it off and go back to bed. So I
would turn on the console TV, park myself in front of it, and watch
cartoons.
The not so good cartoons came on around 7am. The better ones came on
at 8am. The really great ones came on at 9am or 10am, and by noon
they start to taper off to the cartoons that nobody really liked. I
didn't know at the time but they did that to catch the wave of people
as they woke up and got moving and then lost attention as the day wore
on.
The commercials always caught my attention. Cereal, candy, all kinds
of different fun things. It was amazing!
Bugs Bunny, Road Runner and Coyote, Tasmanian Devil, then the comic
books like Spider-Man. Mickey Mouse club was on early and I tolerated
that but it was not my favorite.
I remember watching Capt. Kangaroo. I never really watched Mr.
Rogers, though I do remember watching Sesame Street before they all turned gay.
My favorite way to watch cartoons on Saturday morning when I was
little was to lay in front of the TV with my feet on the base of the
console and my head away from the TV. That way I was a proper
distance away from the screen and if my parents came out I wouldn't
get yelled at for being too close to the TV and burning my eyes out.
My Dad had explained the way a cathode ray tube worked and how there
was something in the TV shooting light at the back of the screen to
make pictures and I didn't want to go blind. But I did want to be
close enough so that the screen was big.
One Saturday morning when I was about six or seven I was laying on my
back in front of the TV with my feet on the base of the console. I
had been given my allowance Friday night, one quarter. I was playing
with my quarter as I laid there. For fun I would lay it on my forehead
and balance it on my nose. And then I was wondering what it would be
like so I closed my mouth and put the quarter on my lips. I pushed in
the air with my lips. I wiggled my mouth around and made the quarter
wiggle around.
Then something happened in the cartoon I was watching that was amazing
and I open my mouth. The quarter dropped right into my mouth to the
back of my throat and I swallowed it! I kinda gagged and choked but
it was too late. The quarter was gone!
I got scared and ran in and woke up my mom. I started crying and
tried to explain what had happened. She was groggy and trying to wake
up. I remember dad waking up and wondering what was going on.
After they got out of bed and got a bathrobe or something on over
their pajamas Mom had me drink a glass of water. And then I had to
poop in a bowl for week. I didn't understand what I was doing but
later I learned she was going through my poop to see if the quarter
had passed through my body.
I don't think she ever found the quarter. So there may be something
bouncing around in my bowels that I swallowed when I was watching
cartoons as a kid.
Fun memory to think about!
