StoryTime with Grandma – Shirley Curry
I have many days where I struggle to find something to write as I forgot to have my ‘inspiration cereal’ in the morning. As the hours go by I start to worry if I will be able to meet my next deadline. Today is one of those days… thankfully this time I have a hidden gem to share with you all. It’s someone who as soon as I saw their content I fell in love with it instantly!
I remember scrolling through YouTube watching a few videos on things I might have missed while playing Skyrim and I had a recommendation to none other than Shirley Curry’s Skyrim videos.
For those who don’t know much about Shirley Curry, she is an 84 year old video gamer who immediately stole the hearts of Skyrim fans all around the globe. Since then she has been unofficially crowned ‘Skyrim’s Grandma’ thanks to her successful channel that showcases her passion for the game! Thanks to her love of Skyrim and the support of her fans, she has landed her own role in the next installment of the Elder Scrolls universe, Elder Scrolls VI.
As I look at her channel again, I find myself smiling at the screen as I scroll through her content. If someone was to ask me where I see myself in 50 years I would like to think it would be in front of a console playing my favorite games, just like Shirley. She has turned a very cold and gloomy day into a day where I’ve spent hours in front of my laptop smiling and laughing at how wholesome she is.
She definitely captured my heart in the very first video I watched, however as I kept watching through her videos I found that she has recently received some unwanted attention from some “trolls” (for a lack of a better word) on the internet. Watching the video where she explained why she was pausing her uploads I could not help feel sad and angry because growing up I was taught that we treat our elderly with respect. Watching uneducated trolls be mean to an 84-year-old lady who is just living her life the best she can by expressing who she is through the games she loves is totally unacceptable!!
Sure we all play video games differently and as she explained that it’s her game she is playing and if you don’t like it then leave. Why leave a comment that will hurt someone? It’s 2020 and our world has enough problems so don’t add to them by bullying an adorable old lady on the internet! I feel sad that I got to miss out on who she was before all the negativity became too much for her, but I understand that she needs to keep her health in check and that she needs to take time for herself as well.
Her gaming career started when her son gave her his old PC after he upgraded. Grandma’s (I’m calling her that since she feels like my grandma!) intention for the PC was to store her recipes, but instead, her time quickly got stolen by Civilization II. Not long after her son saw how much she enjoyed Civilization II he shared a link with her to a gamer that played Skyrim, and so her own story began. She became Skyrim’s storyteller in a way.
Through her videos Grandma Shirley shares how the game has changed her life and how she likes to roleplay with her characters. Let’s be honest, Skyrim is the perfect game for anyone’s imagination to run wild with its different landscapes, quests, and characters.
As tears of joy build up I can’t help fall more in love with this gamer as she tells the stories of all the characters and the journeys they go through. I think I’m a little sad that I was never there with everyone else to watch as the stories unfolded and got told each week.
As I continued watching and learning about the interests of the internet’s favorite Grandma I noticed she has addressed the stigma around her age as well, asking why gaming cannot just be a hobby. Why must it be about how young you are and how quickly you’ve completed a game? Throughout her journey of playing games and sharing them with the world, she has found that older gamers have said that they are scared to admit they play games, as they would be unable to handle the nasty comments she sometimes gets on her videos. She also takes great pride in being able to have been the helping ear to many younger kids who have confided in her saying how sad, alone and depressed they were and how by watching her streaming and being happy and cheerful made them feel better too.
I think it’s safe to say that Shirley Curry is a superhero in her own way, she has inspired me to try harder, do better and even to give my own storytelling a chance through playing Skyrim (I went to go and borrow the PS3 from my dad and now I’m about to go and tell my own story). She is a gamer we can all look up to and I’m sure many more will fall in love with as time goes on. I simply cannot wait to see when she uploads and plays again, ALL of my notifications are on and it’s safe to say she is now my FAVORITE YouTuber.
Lots of Love
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