Old Media

I used to sit with my grandfather (retired) on days off school, and he would have me read the newspaper to him as best I could. Through his efforts, I was reading at a 4th grade level in the first grade. He taught me to look up words I didn't know in a dictionary. And we would keep a growing list of words we looked up--a practice I still follow today.

When my grandparents got satellite cable, I learned how to change channels, etc. quickly. My cousins and aunt thought it was unfair that I was in charge of the remote, but my grandfather shut them down when he handed her the remote and asked her to change the channel--She quickly realized she didn't know how.  "That's why she's in charge of the remote. She knows that thing better than I do." I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7. I was also the only one allowed to touch the VCR. It was a grumpy old thing that screamed like a banshee whenever it pleased.