Old Saturdays

Does anyone else out there remember being a kid on Saturday morning? I sure do. And I tell ya what. It sure isn't what it used to be these days. I remember waking up at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings and watching the many cartoons that dominated all of the basic channels of TV on that one glorious day a week. Smurfs, He-Man, My Little Ponies, G.I. Joe, Snorks...the list goes on and on. Of course, revealing the cartoons reveals my age, but I'm okay with that. I knew when the morning was done and it was time to go outside and play when American Gladiators came on. It's a big childhood memory. Waking up Saturday to a big tasty breakfast courtesy of mom, hanging out in my PJ's, and watching cartoons with my three brothers. I bet my mom got most of her housework done on Saturday mornings. But those days don't exist anymore. I, unlike most people, do not have a cable network. I have one digital converter box that picks up a whopping 7 Channels. One of those channels is in Spanish and another one is the weather station. So that leaves me with a whopping 5 stations. Okay, I must admit this isn't a bad thing most days. I turn the TV on about once every two or three weeks in hopes that I can watch Smallville. So I suppose I'm okay with no cable in general.

Well, last week, I decided to turn the TV on after the kids woke up on Saturday. I said, "Okay guys! I think it's time we let you watch Saturday morning cartoons!" They got all excited and curled up on the couch with their blankets. You know what I found out? They don't have Saturday morning cartoons anymore! There was nothing! Seriously? Nothing? I guess in order to watch Saturday morning cartoons anymore these days, you need cable. Or PBS...which our TV doesn't pick up...naturally. All I found were infomercials, 'good morning' type shows for adults (boring), and some strange cartoon on the Spanish channel. Great. So this is what it has come to. If I want to pass on one of my childhood joys to my kids I'll have two choices. Purchase an expensive cable package that I would use one day a week or learn Spanish. Great.

*sigh*

Saturday morning doughnuts just don't mean the same without cartoons.