“You can be an adult and still kiss your Grandma.”

Whoever said cartoons can’t teach you a life lesson?  I sure didn’t.  To this day, I completely enjoy watching cartoons.  Some though, I haven’t quite caught on to.  Sometimes nothing beats flipping to an old channel and catching some Tom and Jerry, Foghorn Leghorn, or if you’re lucky…Mighty Mouse.  A lot can be said also for Netflix.  We have been able to see a lot of our old favorites through Netflix…He-man, She-ra, Voltron, G.I. Joe, Care Bears, etc.  Kudos go out to Netflix for offering these streaming over the Wii.  We can just turn it on and find something to lighten our day immediately.  But…I will be the first to admit that nothing compares to SpongeBob for me.  Go ahead you naysayers, give me your best.  You won’t be able to deter me from SpongeBob. 

Case and point:  I flipped to Nickelodeon this morning and was happily offered one of my favorite episodes of SpongeBob ever…”Grandma’s Kisses”.  For the unfamiliar, the episode goes like this.  SpongeBob visits his Grandma.  He enjoys the normal Grandma treats, and Grandma drops him off at the Krusty Krab for his work shift.  You know how it goes, you must have that last kiss from Grandma before parting…so, she plants a big pink lipsticky kiss on his forehead.  You know that shade…the shade only a Grandma can get away with (fortunately, my Maw-Maw has a great lipstick color by the way).  Well, SpongeBob walks into the restaurant only to be greeted with laugh and ridicule about his Grandma kissprint on his forehead.  After being humiliated, SpongeBob storms out.  Patrick, his always misguided trusty sidekick, explains to him that you have to be adult now.  No more Grandma kisses for him.  SpongeBob then returns to Grandma’s house.  He acts like an adult and misses out on all of the wonderful Grandma treats.  Patrick caves and begins acting like a child going nuts with the Grandma treats.  Long story short…SpongeBob gets jealous, breaks down, and Grandma explains to him that he can still have all of the Grandma love he wants and still be an adult. 

How many times do you feel like you can’t give in to that Grandma or Grandpa love because you don’t want to be embarrassed of the emotions you would show?  Do you know how many of us are out there that truly wish we could indulge in that love?  There are many of us out there that are down to three, two, one, or no Grandparents at all.  Walking into the Grandparent’s home was always a safe haven.  If you were having bad day, they would make it better.  You knew you could eat anything at their house.  You could do anything.  You could tell them anything without repercussions.  Nothing would get back to Mom and Dad…you were safe and secure in their arms.  I will be the first to tell you that me and my cousins pushed the limits at our Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw’s house.  But, they almost always (unless we truly deserved the punishment…which we did sometimes) met our misbehaving with love and understanding.  They had been there.  They remembered how nice it was to escape as a kid to the Grandparent’s.  I remember learning to play the piano at their house.  Happy Days are Here Again was one Maw-Maw always used to play with me.  It was played out of this old green and paisley songbook, which I still have.  We would pluck or bang on the piano for hours, depending on which cousin was sitting on the piano bench.  We could go out in the den where the old television was and watch cartoons in our little “hideaway”.  We could cook whatever we wanted at their house.  We could have a HUGE bowl of ice-cream with all of the toppings…Hersheys Fudge Topping never tasted so good!  Or, we could have a plate of nachos with all of the topping…cover it with cheese and pop it in the microwave to heat everything up.  We could make a Lemon Meringue Pie after riding the bus to their house after school (my cousin Justin used to love doing this – if he were still around, I bet he would be winning awards with his Lemon Meringue and his lust for life).  When Maw-Maw would make up a fresh batch of her homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies for us (best in the world I must say), we could always lick the mixing spoon and bowl.  What I wouldn’t give to walk by that old blue chair at Maw-Maw’s and be swiftly grabbed and be thrown into the lap of my Paw-Paw for a quick hug and kiss. 

Well, now that I am writing this in love and admiration (and in tears now of remembrance), remember that your Grandparents are who helped mold who you are today, and who your parents are.  I pray that your memories of your Grandparents are as beautiful as mine were.  Yes, I got in trouble too.  Yes, I was spanked by them.  Yes, I remember being yelled at a couple of times (ok, so more than a couple – I blame it on the redhead in me).  But, it was all in love and in hope to mold me into the beautiful young woman I have become. 

In closing, enjoy the time you have with them now.  Sadly, they won’t be around forever (as some of us can attest to that).  Don’t be afraid of the emotions that seeing them may evoke.  They are your history, and you are creating your future based off of things you have learned from them…

Couldn’t have said it better myself…”You can be an adult and still kiss your Grandma.” ~SpongeBob’s Grandma

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