Thoughts on Turning 9

By PARKER KESTON | Junior Reporter

Was the world always the same? Has anything changed since the past? It’s hard for me to know – after all, I haven’t been around for that long. But my grandparents…they’d know. So I decided to ask them and get to the bottom of it.

I started with the big questions I really, really, really wanted to know the answers to. Did they have pets? What were their names? Did they remember their fourth grade teachers? What was their favorite candy? You know, the important stuff.

Turns out, they remembered more than I thought they would (sometimes they forget stuff). Papa Michael remembered his teacher, Mrs. Kelly, who would twist his ear and pull him up to the front to apologize when he talked in class out of turn.

Papa Geno remembered his wire-haired fox terrier, Dasher, who went to doggy jail twice for biting the mailman, and Grandma Sandy played circus with her dog Duchess who she would dress up like a circus animal.

Grandma Linda’s favorite candy was Walnettos, which she said are little chewy squares with walnuts that she ate one-by-one while hiding behind her mother’s couch.

I had a ton of fun finding out about what life was like when my grandparents were little. But then it was time to get a little more serious. Forget all of MY questions.  I wanted THEM to tell me what THEY remember most about being 9.

Grandma Linda said the world was simpler. There were no iPhones or iPads, and no e-mails, so she wrote letters. Her television had only two channels and you had to watch whatever was on. Can you imagine?!

Grandma Sandy said she used to ride her bike with her friends to the library and check out Nancy Drew novels, then go to Clark’s and have a Vanilla Coke at the soda fountain.  That DEFINITELY sounds a little more interesting.

Papa Geno’s favorite memory occurred two days before he turned 9. In a very important baseball game, Bobby Thomson hit “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” an amazing home run to win the pennant for the New York Giants. And Papa Michael remembered his father Jack, a hero policemen that saved three drowning boys in the East River, and the NYPD boys band he and his brother joined which allowed them to march up and down 5^th Avenue in every major New York City parade.

Talking to my grandparents made me excited to go out and make my own memories. Now I can’t wait until I turn 9 (September 26).