Scene: A little girl on the couch is trying to find something to watch on television with her loving grandma. She nestles down with her blanket and juice and anticipates the suspense and action of what crime might come next. Then with a touch of a button, queues the “CSI” theme song.

Binge watching old reruns of “Criminal Minds”, “CSI” (Las Vegas, New York and Miami) and all three “Law & Orders” with my grandma has forever become my favorite childhood memory. I loved the suspense and thrill it gave me as a 6-year-old girl. I would go visit my grandma for a weekend and she would save all of the hundreds of episodes on her DVR and we would start watching episodes after lunch and continued until late in the night until we would either fall asleep or until we would be to scared to shut our eyes, so we just kept watching. This process then continues until I had to leave for home once again.

Throughout this I would play ‘detective. While I was watching the show, I would try and figure out who is the murder, (over the years I have gotten much better at this game). My grandma and I would sit on the couch eating our potato chips and French onion dip and just kept trying to piece together the evidence in order to crack the case. I remember how happy it made me to just sit there and watch theses shows and how emotionally connected I was with the characters, even at such a young age. I remember the episode of CSI when Gary Dourdan was killed off the show. I remember crying because I was so heart broken and I didn't completely understand the reasoning behind it all. I remember that I became more aware of my surroundings and the people in public because of theses shows. It taught me so much that in a way seemed so ‘abnormal’ for a child my age, but it's what I loved. I was so intrigued with the abstract of it all and the intense mood it set that it eventually became apart of who I am. And I say that in a good way. I mean the stories have just become such a big part of my childhood that without them I could honestly say my life would be less flavorful. I guess you can just say that its more of nostalgic thing, brings me back to happy days before high school, and real life responsibilities.

So, grandma I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for bringing theses shows into my life. I honestly wouldn't be who I am today if you wouldn't've introduced them to me. I wouldn’t be interested in law like I am now or even criminal justice. I just want you to know that those memories are truly some of the best ones I have, and I owe it all to you.