Most Saturday nights in 1985 you’d find me at my grandparents’ house.
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I invited myself over so I could go to church with my grandma.
It wasn’t that I was pious: all my friends went to her church, and I wanted to see them. But staying at their house had even more perks. For one thing, they had two televisions.
They watched the one in the den. Grandma had her chair in there, one of those old mammoth things with a footrest built in. Grandpa liked to watch in the den cause he could smoke with the screen door open a little, to let the smoke out.
There was a television in the front room that no one ever used but me, on Saturday nights. Grandma set my things up on the davenport. That front room is the only place I have ever heard the word davenport used instead of couch my whole life. It makes sense though, that thing was about 10 feet long, with a low back and armrests, in a brown plaid that was only created in 1967 so I think davenport was the proper word.
Grandma laid out sheets and blankets and pillows for me and I could stretch the channel changer over to the coffee table. Yes, they even had a console to change the channel without having to get up! It was connected to the television by a long wire and I’d press now on its huge buttons. I didn’t have to make a decision between Different Strokes and Gimme a Break. I could watch BOTH! I clicked between the two of them during commercial breaks. The same for Benson and The Facts of Life. And at 9pm I could watch the forbidden Love Boat. I was not allowed to stay up that late at home or to watch the Love Boat for my mother said it was too sexy. I was never interested in Airwolf.
I’d watch television until my eyes felt like they were going to fall out. I’d get a headache and couldn’t concentrate on the screen anymore until I fell asleep with the television still on. The blue glow served as a nightlight until my grandpa came in and turned it off before going to bed.
I don’t remember talking to my grandparents when I stayed over on those Saturday nights. I remember drinking 7-up in a can with a straw. I remember sneaking into the kitchen to get another chalky Chips Ahoy out of the cookie jar that looked like a mushroom. I remember Grandpa making potato pancakes for breakfast in the morning which was the only time I ever felt Scottish in my entire life. And I remember when Jo from the Facts of Life took ballroom dancing lessons or when Blair helped deliver a baby. On Saturday nights, I was an only child.
This sounds amazing. I miss '80s TV!
The word Davenport was not foreign to me, but I just now learned a couple of interesting things:
A davenport can be a type of sofa or a type of desk. And also there is a Davenport Furniture company.