SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS
Cindy Maddera
10 Likes, 0 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "Apparently it's National Siblings Day. Here's to my partners in crime."
If you really look closely at that picture of the three of us, you’ll notice the years that separate us. The age difference allowed for solitary moments in our childhood. Some of us more than others. My moments came in the early morning hours, particularly Saturday mornings. I would wake up, the first rays of the sun barely visible, and I’d sneak down the stairs. I’d turn on the TV and flip the dial over to the channel that aired my favorite cartoons. The test pattern would still be on, so I would head into the kitchen. I would hoist myself up onto the kitchen counter, climb up and grab a bowl from the counter. Then I’d drag a kitchen chair over to the pantry to stand on so that I could get to a box of cereal. I would pour myself the biggest bowl of cereal and then plop myself down in front of the TV, staring at the test pattern and eating cereal until the cartoons started.
I still do this. Of course, I no longer have to climb the cabinets to reach things and TV test patterns are no longer a thing. Most of the times, I fix myself a proper breakfast like an omelet and toast. But sometimes…sometimes I pour myself a giant bowl of cereal. Every time I do it, I think about all of those times I climbed up onto that kitchen counter of my childhood. I remember feeling the hardness of counter on my knees and how I would brace myself with a hand on the refrigerator. Those moments would lead to a habit of climbing furniture and cabinets to reach things. Who needs a step stool when you have climbing skills? Those moments would lead to several habits. I still get up early and I still spend those early hours alone, sometimes in front of the TV, sometimes sitting at the counter in a cafe. Those Saturday mornings were probably early exercises for my independent, slightly fearless nature. Lessons in learning to fend for myself.
Eventually, though, I would be joined by my sister. She would sit down next to me with her own bowl of cereal. The two of us would sit there in our matching nightgowns, watching cartoons for as long as we could. This was before our Saturdays would be filled with our extracurricular activities. filled up with 4-H events, band and choir contests. Thinking back on it now, it was such a brief and narrow window of time. Those narrow windows of time are the ones that stick in my memory. I remember vividly the moments we spent apart as if we were an only child. I also remember vividly the moments we spent as actual siblings. All the games played, all the fights, all the bike rides, all the trips. Maybe we didn’t have the most traditional childhood sibling relationship. The differences in our ages seemed so much more extreme when I was a kid, at times even unsurpassable. Now the difference is miniscule. There have been events in my life that I would never have been able to handle with out the support of my siblings. Those were the times they provided the chair for me to climb up on or the boost up onto the counter.
They plop down next to me with their own bowls of cereal at the exact right moment I need them to.