46.0

scene: Granny's*.

I never had too big of a reason to be excited whenever we went to my granny's place. Which makes sense seeing as it's a downstairs apartment a little smaller than the main floor of my house (which is quite small itself).
Mom says we go there to enjoy each other's company.
Otherwise known as slouching on my grandparent's floral couches watching whatever it is the rabbit-ears of the TV happen to pick up.
Sometimes we sneak into the kitchen for an animal cracker or a glass of juice.
Sometimes I sit on their stoop and do my homework.
Most times I fall asleep.

I drove us there today. And my mom didn't freak out until my parking job which is considerable improvement.
We came in and each distributed our quota of hugs and kisses to my grandparents and my uncle and proceeded to take our spots on her couches.
The evening plateaued there.

While I watched Cosmo Kramer (the only one WORTH watching on Seinfeld), my granny ranted about her feet to my mom and my grandpa was... Well, I don't know what my grandpa was doing. However, it's highly likely that he was sitting in his corner of the living room the whole time.I just can never tell if he's sleeping or not. Even magnified behind his huge glass lenses his eyes are lost behind saggy eyelids. A token of his age and wear. He'd occasionally ask what we were watching and what Jerry and his gang were saying, but other than that he migrated from the kitchen back to his chair again.

My uncle took up all of the long couch. His feet were propped up on the opposite armrest. His activity was limited to sporadic guffaws at the glowing screen. One time he was feeling really energetic and managed to crack a couple of dirty jokes at a mattress commercial.
They weren't as funny as his commentary on PBS kids programs.

But that's my granny's house. Everything revolves around the TV there. I don't know what we'd do without it.
We might stop visiting them altogether.
Or we'd probably pick someone else's house to crash on Fridays.









*I was always curious about the fact that even though men are the ones associated with ownership and whatnot I would never think to refer to these places as "Grandpa's" or "dad and mom's." ... Just a thought.