9

In fourth grade, I loved to read and write. When I went to the store with my parents, I didn’t ask for toys, I asked for books, and they couldn’t say no. Not that I was engaged in a lot of high quality literature – at this age, it was mostly Nancy Drew, Baby-Sitters Club, and Goosebumps. I remember my cousin Janelle passed me down some R.L. Stein books, but those were a little scary.

When I wasn't reading, I enjoyed watching TV and playing Nintendo, both of which I had precious few opportunities to do, as we had no game systems (until my brother got a Gameboy) and only four channels on our TV (channels 3, 4, 5 but it was fuzzy, and PBS). For a while, you had to adjust the bunny ears on the TV, then it did this really weird thing where the whole screen would just turn green and someone would have to get up and bang on the top of it to make the picture come back. So my brother and I had to get our screen time in at our cousins' houses. Mostly we spent time next door with my cousins Johnny and Mauranda, although Kris and Janelle had awesome Nintendo games (Mario, Duck Hunt, Spy vs. Spy...). Our favorite shows were mostly on Nickelodeon - Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains it All,  and of course the classic Fresh Prince, of which any 90's kid can still sing the rap.

The Fresh Prince rap is a little tired. Remember these kids??

 
 

I also started playing the flute at this age, and played in the school band all the way through high school. I was never exceptionally good, but the music teacher was a lot of fun and it was a good little group. Well worth the Middle School teasing.