First of all I've had some kind of annoying stomach virus since last week and it might be affecting my mind - so I'm going to ramble today. At the moment I'm watching Oprah and it is a Mary Tyler Moore reunion show and I'm getting teary-eyed! It brings back so many memories of Saturday nights at home in the living room - with Mary - and the Carol Burnett show - shows the whole family enjoyed and laughed at together. I really loved Mary as Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show too (reruns of course). Anyway it's amazing how TV shows can become part of your life. I think more so in the past because there were so many less of them. TV shows were special and I believe the characters were generally written with much more thought and humanity. Now maybe we are too overwhelmed with so many choices - and with shows like Desperate Housewives which make you wonder whether to laugh or be horrified. Nothing seems special anymore. Oh well, I'm sounding like an old fart now.
My book club read For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I bring this up because the book asks you to think about someone you would spend one more day with if you could. In the book, the main character gets to spend one more day with his deceased mother. During that ordinary day he finds out all kinds of things about her that he never knew - including things she sacrificed for him. He, of course, is full of regrets. So it makes you think. The book club ladies had a wide variety of thoughts on the afterlife, reincarnation, ghosts and all sorts of beliefs that kind of took me by surprise.
Anyway, who would you spend one more day with if you could? I first thought of my friend Jacquie who passed on in March - or my friend Maryanne who left before I could say goodbye, or my Aunt Lydia who was warm and bright and special to me. But then I realized that I was fortunate to have many great times with them. So the person I wish I could spend a day with is my maternal grandfather. A man I never spent a day with, but have heard about all my life. I'm pretty sure he was someone special and fun to spend time with. My mom was the last of six children and all I've ever heard all my life was how my grandfather took the time to spend with her when no one else would. Her stories are always humorous too, as he seemed like a man who tried to make everyone around him happy. I was fortunate to know my three other grandparents until my teens. My own children still have three grandparents and I am so grateful for that.
So, think about it. Who would you spend one more day with? Several of the book club ladies insisted that our loved ones are looking down from heaven watching out for us. I said - if they have to look down here on Earth and see us messing up every day then I don't think they're in heaven! That's not my idea of heaven anyway!
9 comments:
What a thought-provoking question. I think it would be my oldest brother, who died unexpectedly in December 2000. I was his adored baby sister--we were 16 years apart. And I don't remember too many real, adult-to-adult conversations. I wish we could meet once more and talk like friends, instead of relatives.
first of all, this post hit everything that I loved..The DICK VAN DYKE SHOW AND MARY TYLER show that I remember mainly because my mom would finally have time to snuggle with me on the couch, or sit there and roll my hair in those foamy pink rollers or brush my hair.. great memories, great show, if only I'd known it was on, I'd have recorded it for viewing later-on oprah that is-
Now onto that book. What an incredible book. I recall it appeared in tv form awhile back, but I didn't want to watch it until I had read the book. amazing wasn't it? Especially the author of the newspaper..really tragic, intense and like you said and ruth did, thought provoking.
I would most likely spend another day with my maternal grandma..she always said I was her favorite, and I think she had taken a special love to me because
a) i was their first grandchild
b) my parents had five children 1.5 apart so I became more of the helper than a child, basically I think she felt "bad" for me always being the helper and would never say no when I asked if I could come and stay with her and Grandpa.
They'd sit and drink coffee and smoke cigarettes over and over listening to the paul harvey show in the am and news radio...I miss her. Her hair was always done, her clothes were fun, and she allowed me to play in her jewelry box.
She allowed me to be a kid with freedom something that my parents couldn't provide for me.
Great GREAT Post!
Now I'm in memory form.
I hope you feel better!!
Always,
Elizabeth
whoops for some reason I thought it wasn't working..and it won't let me delete the extra's either..it was really slow!
Sorry!! :)
Ebs
I cried my way through Oprah and Mary today, too. My husband came home from work and I watched it again with him.
We used to spend every Sat. night watching it together. I loved that he enjoyed the show as well.
I am still thinking about who I would want to spend that day with.
Great post!
I watched Oprah today, too....The MTM Show has a special meaning for me too, though for a few other reasons than the fact that it was a FANTASTIC Show in every way....Maybe I should do a post about that...
I have a very dear friend who just died on Thursday...and like you I had so very many great times with her that though I wish I could have one more conversation with her, the person I'd like to have one more day with, died in 1985. He was my soul mate and dear dear friend and I miss him still---One more day with Sammy would be a GREAT Treat!
I read For One More Day a while back and thought it was very good.
The person I would like to spend one more day with would be my maternal grandma. I was very close with her and when I was a young teenager there were some family issues that I won't go into but I didn't see my grandma ever again. She died a few years later.
My paternal gramma lived long enough to have 15 great grandchildren, (my two kids being the first of them) and 2 great great grandchildern (my daughter's 2 kids). How wonderful it was for them to have had her in their lives.
Ahhh, I liked that book. Your book club must have been so much fun. Sometimes I feel the presence of people who were in my life. When I walk on the paths around here I have often smelled the scent of my father. So what's that? Probably schizophrenia.
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