During my Grandma Allen’s funeral on Monday, March 23, I had some memories of her brought back to my mind. I thought I would share a rather humorous one here on my blog that illustrates how older folks are/were a little intimidated by advances in technology. (For instance, the clock on Grandma’s VCR would blink after a power outage – rather than set the clock to get it to stop flashing, Grandma would place a tissue over the clock so she wouldn’t see it anymore!)Anyway – shortly after Ruth and I were married we stopped in to visit Grandma Allen, I believe it was Spring. As we sat visiting, I noticed an unopened VHS copy of Anne of Green Gables sitting in her entertainment center. I asked her when she got that and she informed me that it had been a Christmas gift and that it was one of her favorite shows. I then asked her if it was one of her favorite shows, why she hadn’t opened it and watched yet – to which she responded that her VCR didn’t work.
I went over to the entertainment center, grabbed a video tape (one that was already opened) and proceeded to start the movie playing on her TV. I told her it was not broken and she said it never worked for her. I left the tape in the VCR, turned it off along with the TV and then asked her to come over and show me exactly what she does when she tries to watch a movie.
She walked over and turned on the TV. She then hit the power button the VCR and then said, “Then, just to make sure it is really on, I hit the power button again.” I tried very hard to control my laughter – realizing that by “making sure” the power was on, she was toggling the power off, again. Rather than try to explain the idea of a on/off switch to her, I simply told her that with this VCR, you have to make “extra sure” it is turned on and hit the button 3 times!
I don’t know if she ever really got the hang of it and used her VCR, but the experience has always made me laugh!
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