Thursday, April 2, 2009

Telling Time: Before Sally and After Sally

The finale of "ER" is on tonight. How long has that show been on the air? I wondered today. Well, my mom liked the show, and she passed away 6 1/2 years ago... which means it was on for a few years before that. 10 years, I estimated. (To answer the trivia question, it's 15 years).

But it made me stop and think: Sally's part of my everyday math. Events in my life happened pre-Sally or post-Sally. And the more years that pass, the more of Sally's favorite things pass, too. TV shows end. Her flowered socks that I wear get holey. Photos of us smiling fade.

Stuff is just stuff, though. I'm realizing more and more that I need to forget the material items and tune into my memories. I remember "ER" and "Chicago Hope" started the same year, and my mom often debated which one she liked better. I remember she thought George Clooney was sexy and Noah Wyle had a big nose. I remember she hated that the commercials were always so much louder than the show, and she'd scowl and lower the volume so we could chat.

What quirky qualities do you remember about someone you lost?

4 comments:

  1. i love you. u make me smile :)

    i just found out tonight about another blast from my past that is gone. i have a family friend that's the only big sister i've ever known, she's been diagnosed with thyroid cancer & had surgery yesterday. news is she doing good :)

    BTW- i watch the last 30 min of ER tonight for nostalgia because 10 yrs ago i luved it too. lol!

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  2. Sally and I have the same volume gripe!! Drives me nuts!

    I remember my Granny always trying to push gross candy on me. She had these candy dishes full of stuff I always hated - we're talking Circus Peanuts here. Remember those? Awful, stale marshmallow nastiness... every time I was at her house she'd give me some. And every time I'd tell her I didn't like them. "Just try one, they're so good! You'll love it." Mmm hmm.

    I'd give anything to have her shove Circus Peanuts in my hand today.

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  3. Back when I was in college Anthony "Goose" Edwards was leaving the show so they gave his character (Mark Green) cancer.
    In his last episode he goes with daughter to Hawaii where he passes away. In the final scene where he dies his daughter plays him the song Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

    My mother who also passed away from cancer used to sing me that when I was young, so the episode def ended up having extra meaning to me. Although I stopped watching over the past few years (Uncle Jesse in an ER, c'mon!) the show still meant something to me for that episode alone.

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  4. i watched the ER finale because my dad loved it so much, and i remember watching it with him up through 10 years ago as well. :) Dad passed away about 3 weeks ago, from pancreatic cancer, after about a 5 month battle...i'm still trying to cope/understand it all, but you're exactly right - little things come up every day that make me think of him - including my chicago cubs having their first game of the season yesterday. that was always his and my thing...and it's going to be tough going to games without him at first..but i'm hoping he now has some pull up there to help us get some W's!

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