My So-Called Life

My mom always came up with plenty of creative activities to keep us busy. She was home with us until we were both in school. And even then she was always home with us after school. She hosted Girl Scout meetings and birthday cookouts, Halloween parties and sleepovers. We did crafts, went for walks and gardened with her. I say all this because I just don't remember being one of those kids who was put in front of the television as a way of being kept occupied. Of course the best we had back then was View Master anyway. Yes, kiddies, this was pre-VCR, Beta, DVD, etc. ('Cause I'm young like that.) Anyway, my mom was always involved with us. Despite all that, despite my love of reading, maybe even because of it, I became enamored with the television and everything it stood for. I grew up on television.

I was a voracious reader from a very young age. My parents rarely read anything other than sales journals, magazines or the bible. (yep, Palin-style). They didn't ever get, and don't to this day, my love of books. But my mom did her best to keep me stocked up on Whitman books and anything else age-appropriate that should could buy second-hand. Some of those book I remember reading 3 or 4 times at least. Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, they were oldies but I loved them. I had bookshelves in my room stocked to the rafters. But when I ran out of something to read, and I did frequently, I watched television.

I became embroiled in the happenings, attached to the characters knew the weekly schedules by heart. Of course, in the pre-cable stone age we only had 5 channels and that included PBS but still. (UHF!!! Right?!) I remember watching Wide, Wide World of Sports on Sunday afternoon. I remember being allowed to stay up "late" (past 9) for Carol Burnett on Saturday nights. And who could forget the movies every Sunday evening on The Wonderful World of Disney? Just seeing Tinkerbelle fly across the screen you knew this was something you were watching just for you. A kid. Once a week.

Afternoons after school it was Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch and a whole load of cartoons like Tom & Jerry and Woody Woodpecker. And through the week I watched things like Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, and Little House on the Prarie. Back then, there was little that was off limits. But there was only 1 TV in the house. And believe me, if dad didn't want to watch it I didn't see it. There was no TiVo or DVR.

I always wanted to be on television when I was a kid. Not an actor–literally in a television show. At Al's with Richie Cunningham, or the basement apartment from Laverne and Shirley, or on the island with Robinson Crusoe.  I wanted a cool mom and dad like Mike and Carol Brady (although now that seems debatable, the cool part). I wanted to go live with Doris Day and her father and that big, shaggy dog Nelson. Sometimes I pretended I was in those shows. I wished I could do magic like Samantha and Tabitha.

To this day I have issues with expecting life to be like a television show. Nice and tidy, all wrapped up within 60 minutes or less. Problems should resolve, hijinx should ensue, or magic should happen. My friends should be like Monica and Rachel. ('cause let's face it, I am the Phoebe here). My workplace should be like Ally McBeal's, filled with interesting and unusual characters. But alas. Life is life, I really do realize that. I do have to go to WalMart. I don't have money for that fabulous feather wreath I found. My husband, though he loves me more than life itself, doesn't know how to do "romantic gestures".  I have a mountain of bills to pay.

So what if my mom is more like Roseanne than Doris Day? So what if my friends are more like Designing Women than Sex and the City. This life of mine? It is all I have. I am learning to appreciate everything and everyone in it. One of the hardest things in the world? Accepting people for who they are, where they are. I really do like my life, but I still wouldn't mind living in the TV for a week or so. Especially since we haven't had a vacation in 2 years. My life...