Don't Touch That Dial

My third brother was about three years old. He had a morning routine. After the rest of us went to school he was given a penny. Mom watched him walk up to the corner and the woman in the store watched him walk the rest of the way to the store where he bought a piece of candy. Then she watched him to the corner and Mom watched him the rest of the way home.

Once at home my brother would watch the morning children's programs. This was his morning ritual every day.

One morning he hurriedly told my mother to turn the television off because he had to go to the bathroom. He did not want to miss anything so he would have her turn it back on when he was ready.

Mom thought it was hilarious. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense to a three-year-old. If the TV is not on neither is the program.

Now that happened in the middle 1950's. The town we lived in had 1, count it, 1 television channel available. It was a combination of the three networks. Whatever programs the heads of the station chose were what we watched.

Many years passed. We had a new way to watch movies on television. VCR's had been invented. You hooked the machine up to the television. Then you chose the movie you wished to see. There was a cartridge you injected into the machine. After a bit of fiddling with buttons you could watch the movie in the luxury of your own home.

VCR's were so simple a child could operate them. My nephew enjoyed watching movies. Unfortunately he was also a mischievous child.  My sister had to invest in a new DVD machine after my nephew inserted a Hershey bar and then a cartridge.

Then came the DVD player. Instead of those bulky cartridges you had a flat disc to insert into the machine attached to your television. The discs were not going to stick in the machine. They were also much easier to store. They took up so much less space.

Someone came up with the idea to store programs seen on television. If you were not at home when your favorite program came on you could program your DVR to save it for you to watch at your leisure.

Or what if there were two programs on at the same time and they were both important to you? You could watch one and record one to watch later. Perhaps you could not be at home. Record them both for later. Progress is a wonderful thing.

Now I have a DVR that will allow for 5 programs at the same time! Imagine that. There are three televisions in my home. One in the living room, one in my room, and one in my son's room. Each TV in bedrooms is connected to the main DVR in the living room.

I can watch programs that I have saved in my room before I go to sleep. If I see something I would like to record for another time I can issue the order from my room.

I can search for my favorite actors or an upcoming program to set a recording so I do not forget about it. I can even set series recordings for programs that I watch weekly or daily. There are even programs like baseball that are seasonal. If I set a series recording for my favorite team the games will begin recording when the new season begins. I do not have to reset the series recordings.

Technology makes all this possible. And it is such a frivolous thing. If I were to miss an episode of my favorite soap opera I would survive. If I miss one baseball game out of the season I would probably live. But I do not have to.

If all this is possible just think what else can be done. Most of these improvements were not even imagined once. Now we realize that if we can imagine something we can make it so. Marvelous.

Another Brother

Meet the baby of the family. Mind you he is not the youngest of my siblings but somehow he always seemed like the baby. In my mind's eye he is still 3 years old.

There were seven of us. Somehow we were grouped into the boys, who were my oldest two brothers; the girls, my sister four years younger and me; the kids, my youngest sister and my youngest brother; and my brother. It was not because we loved him less or anything like that. It was just that he sort of got caught in a place where there was no one to match with him.

My brother loved to play cars and trucks. He would spend hours in the sand box under the tree making roads and driving his little cars and trucks to all the imaginary places that only he knew. He was more than happy to have company but he never really played with us. He played beside us.

At our grandmother's house he would take the garden hoe and drag it along her driveway to create the most marvelous road systems. Keep in mind that the driveway was half a block long then turned a corner and was another half block long. Until someone drove over his roads or it rained he could play to his heart's content.

When my brother was playing whatever he wanted to play that day he was completely oblivious to everything around him. I often said that he seemed to have a cloud around his head. He just did not realize that there was anything but the moment and what he was doing in that moment.

My brother loved our dogs and they loved him. They allowed him liberties that they would not have taken from any other human being. He could stick his little fingers into any facial orifice on a dog and they would not even flinch. He was not cruel just very young and curious.

One of the many Suzies was our dog. My brother snuck up behind her as she was eating. The dog did not expect it and did not know who it was that suddenly jumped her from behind. She turned around and bit him.

The bite was severe. My brother's upper lip had a deep wound and the lower lip had a bad but not quite as bad wound. We had a doctor in town and my brother was rushed to the doctor.

All the doctor could do was clean the wound a bit. He was older and he said that he could not do what needed to be done for my brother because his hands were not steady enough any more. He recommended a doctor in the next town.

My brother required stitches to close the wounds. Usually they do not like to stitch dog bites because for some reason they tend to become infected more easily that way. But my brother's upper lip was bitten almost completely through. The doctor said he would probably need corrective surgery when he got older. I am happy to tell you that he healed so well that there is a small scar that you can see if you look closely but no surgery was necessary.

My brother married young. His wife is a beautiful person inside and out. She is quiet and warmly dignified. They had two children.

My niece was ill with a terminal kidney disease. She suffered and died when she was 8 years old. Her mother and father suffered right along with her.

Her medical bills were outrageous even though my brother had excellent medical insurance through work. There was not enough money so my brother took a second job and as many odd jobs on the side as he could find. My sister-in-law also found work. For a young family with a sick child, another child that also needed attention, and no time to spare for each other it was too much. Their marriage failed.

My brother had the court ordered child support automatically withdrawn from his paycheck. He also saw to it that the children had the things they needed. He is a good father.

He was thrilled when his little boy started getting a little bigger. He had someone to play cars and trucks with. My nephew was not as interested in them as his father but they had good time together and that is the important thing.

When my niece died both parents and of course my nephew were all devastated. We all were. She was a loving and giving child who enriched the lives of all of us.

About two years after her death my sister-in-law went to my brother to remind him that child support was still being withheld for his daughter. She had just realized it and told him that she would let the authorities know. She wanted him to be ready in case there were any papers that would need to be signed.

My brother told her not to say anything. The money was directly taken from his pay before he even saw it. He would not miss what he did not see. He told her to put it in a fund for my nephew for when he was older.

After 25 years my brother met another lovely woman. He took that long to get over my sister-in-law. These two women could not be more different. But they are both wonderful and both have been good for him.

His new wife is outgoing and bubbly. She embraces life and is just a fun person to be with.

And my baby brother is a grandfather. His granddaughter is the apple of his eye and he adores her. She adores him back. She just graduated from high school and he is so proud.

I know he misses his daughter. He still has his son and his family. And he has a new wife. His life is good.