I remember vividly as a child waking up on Saturday mornings, fixing myself a bowl of Cheerios, and running to the T.V. to watch early morning cartoons.  Sometimes my mother and father would be awake, clutching a cup of coffee reading the paper, sometimes not.  What was most important was that my pubescent brothers and sister were ALWAYS still asleep.  It was my time as an elementary-school-aged child to relish in my ability to wake up before noon.  I had the entire house to myself and most importantly the T.V. was all mine.  All.  Mine.  My cartoons of choice?  Tom and Jerry, Foghorn Leghorn, Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Jetsons, Road Runner, Yosemite Sam, Yogi Bear, etc.  It was inane, funny and a slice of heaven.

As I write this with a glass of wine at the ready and dinner in the oven, I can hear my two boys reveling in what has now become a Friday late-afternoon ritual: Tom and Jerry.  They are silent as the cheesy music plays and the zinger sound effects go off and then I hear giggles and comments like, “That has GOT to HURT!!”, “Whoa baby!!”, “Not good thinking, Jerry!”  and then more laughter. Or they just bust out with the universally understood, “AHHHHGH!!!”  It’s timeless.  It’s Tom and Jerry.  And it will be points they will score on trivia games for the rest of their life.  Cultural enlightenment?  Check.