Graham and I both enjoyed television more than the rest of the family. We were definite binge streamers when we got into a show, especially if we were watching it together. Graham would happily rewatch his favorite shows, especially when he could enjoy them with someone else. On our last Christmas trip to Seattle, Papa’s (as Jennifer’s dad Tom was known as throughout the family) health problems were getting bad enough that he could no longer be the very active grandpa he always had been. There were no long sessions working in his wood shop or cold weather whiffle ball games. However, Papa was enjoying the Mythbusters marathon that was on. Graham parked himself on the couch and watched episode after episode with his grandpa, despite having seen most of them multiple times. The entire family got drawn in, and we had a wonderfully social time chatting over the outrageous acts of science, talking about which ones we wish we could take part in (Giant waterslide jump!) and which ones we would not go near (Car submerged in water!).
Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the very few shows Graham liked more than Mythbusters. He and I watched the entire series several times through. For a while we regularly greeted each other with “flameeo, hotman” while Jennifer would mock shout “Nobody knows what you are talking about!!”
My favorite Avatar conversations were when we assigned characters to each other. He was Toph, the small blind girl who everyone underestimated and was actually the tough-guy of the series. She also always wore green. He assigned Caleb the character Sokka, a nice guy whose occasional buffoonery was used as humor in the series. Graham really liked teasing his older brother. And he insisted I was Uncle Iroh. Like Toph, Iroh was often underestimated. He is old, fat, and more interested in good food, fine tea, and playing the board game pai sho than he is in any of the political maneuvering going on around him. However, as the series unfolds we learn that Iroh is not washed up, but simply wise enough to realize that the power and domination his countrymen and family want are not worth pursuing and is gradually revealed to be a sage father figure, who just happens to relish great food and tea, and it is in the later episodes that Graham would so often and so sweetly liken me to Iroh.