Contributed by Justin Russo. Twitter: TheRoostarr Web: PressXToJustin
I didn’t have the best relationship with my grandparents. I’m not even sure why. Can I recall a moment when things switched over from being all warm hugs ‘n kisses, baking cookies, etc.? No I can’t, because it just was always gray. A veil over how we related to each other, perhaps something unspoken.
We lived with my Dad’s parents from just after my brother was born in 1985 to just after I graduated Kindergarten in 1989. My only solid memories of that 4 year span involve sitting in my room: playing with G.I. Joes, staring out my window at night trying to count stars, listening to the nearby trains squeal and crank, pretending a distant radio tower was a secret space ship, and playing games with Mom.
We had the upstairs, my Brother and I shared the same room my Dad’s Aunt had moved out of years ago. My parents room was the same room that my Dad shared with his 4 sisters and brother. At one point there were no less than 8 people living in this tiny home in a little developed area of the Chicago suburbs.
Since most of our things were upstairs, that’s where I stayed. I’d go downstairs for dinner, maybe to watch TV, take a bath and go outside. I did spend a lot of time in the backyard kicking dandelions and trying not to get eaten by the alligator my cousin had convinced me was living behind our garage. But those memories are more fleeting, just small glimpses. The upstairs though, was my home. I’d stand next to my dresser and stare at my plastic tank of sea monkeys dance around for hours. Daydreaming that were I to shrink to their size, they would invite me into their palace for dinner, and maybe they had scaled down versions of GI Joes that I could play with to.
The only other times I’d leave the safe haven of my room, or the upstairs in general, was when my Grandma got a computer. I wish I could remember what brand it was. They placed it on a small desk in the bedroom she shared with my Grandpa, and I passed it almost every day on the way to the bathroom. I had no idea what it could be. Was it a television? I’d see my Grandma sitting there, tapping away. I’m not even sure I was old enough to comprehend what a typewriter was or that this device she had purchased might be some kind of evolution of one. It was a gray box, for all I knew it was magic.
After weeks of walking past it, giving it a quick glance my Grandma finally noticed. “Justin, come here a sec,” she said, “Sit down.” I scooted my small frame onto her lap, while she tapped away at the board that had all the buttons on it. I recognized some of the characters on the buttons, but I wasn’t sure what the buttons did. It just looked like the most elaborate television remote I had ever seen.
I heard the gray box whir slightly and she said, “Let’s play a game.” So I waited anxiously for her to procure Hungry Hungry Hippos, or perhaps Ants In The Pants. Instead I saw the screen of the computer flicker, and in bright, bold type the words “Family Feud” appeared.
We probably only played for 15 minutes or so, and as a kid no older than 5 or 6 I’m not sure how much of a help I was. Needless to say, I had a pretty good time. My Grandma would type in what she thought was an appropriate answer, and I would ask her what it was. She would politely explain it to me while the game measured her answer against those of the “audience”.
We took to playing Family Feud every once in a while, never a regular habit, but definitely something I looked forward to. As our time with the game progressed, the more I began to understand its nuances, and the more I looked forward to learning so that sometime I’d be able to answer those questions as well.
Eventually my parents bought their own house and we moved away. While I was glad that I wouldn’t have to worry about the alligator in the backyard eating me any longer, I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t get to play Family Feud anymore. We’d visit my Grandparents and sit around, eat food, do all the visiting the family stuff that you’re supposed to do. But Family Feud never really came up again.
You can reach Justin on Twitter here: TheRoostarr
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