If you spend any time on the internet, you know that rule number one is don’t read the comments. They are usually bad. Or mean. Or both. (And that’s if you’re lucky and you’re not being actively harassed or threatened.) But Shirley Curry’s internet is not your typical internet. The 80-year-old, who just celebrated her one-year anniversary as a gaming vlogger on YouTube, refers to her fans as her “grandkids.” (I’m not crying, there’s just tree branch in my eye.)
In a video posted on Sunday, Curry thanked her internet “family” for all their support over the past year. She’s posted dozens of videos playing Skyrim and racked up over a 150,000 followers in the process. (There’s something endearing about hearing this 80-year-old lady from Virginia shouting, ever so politely, at the screen.) In case that’s not enough, Curry’s Twitter is also full of gems.
In the anniversary video, Curry busts out a fortune cookie she’s been carting around and saving to share with her fans. (It’s already cracked open because Curry filmed an earlier take where she mistakenly thought the camera was on. Grandma!) “Share your joys and sorrows with your family,” the fortune reads, which she hails as being “very apropos.” “You definitely give me joy reading all your comments,” Curry explains. “I love them very, very much.” (Curry often responds individually to as many commenters as she can. Which is pretty standard behavior in the YouTube community, but again, just seems so much better when it’s done by an 80-year-old who calls herself Grandma.)
Curry spends about 12 minutes of her video going over gifts and fan mail she has received over the past few months: origami cranes, chocolate, a bottle of bobby pins (“lock picks, I knew you were low,” a Skyrim fan explained in their note), a card decorated with a chipper-looking duck signed “love, your YouTube grandkid.” Sweet stuff.
“Alright, grandkids. I love you all. I appreciate each and every one of you,” Curry says before blowing a kiss at the screen and ending her video and making this cold-hearted blogger believe the internet might not be such a terrible place after all.
