Tuesday, April 20, 2010

In The Trenches - Family TV Night

We live in a busy world.  Go, go, go.  We have calendars, day planners, internet reminders.  Busy, busy, busy.  We rarely have the time even for family dinners as we grab something between the soccor practice and the homework.

When I was a kid every Sunday night we watched Lassie and Bonanza.  Mom put on the popcorn and the whole family sat cuddled together on the couch to munch and watch.  I still remember the episode when Lassie got scooped up by a back hoe.  It was dramatic and I cried but it all turned out ok.

Then, in my twenties I would rush to get all the kids together and head to my sister-in-laws to watch Dallas and Dynasty.  She would have some food and we would sit glued to the TV to see what J.R. was up to while the kids ran and played.  We caught up on all our visiting and daily lives during the commercials.

Then, when my son was a teen, it was Fresh Prince.  He would call me upstairs with a "hurry, mom" and we would lay on the bed and watch the show and laugh together.

The occasion was special because we decided to make it special.  We set the time aside and without fail made it our routine.  And with the routine came the tradition.  With the tradition came the happy memories.

Who would imagine that a person would remember a single TV episode over 40+ years later?  It's because I was sitting next to my dad with a bowl of popcorn.

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