I posted a few months ago that I had started watching the TV show Brothers & Sisters, which I hadn't seen on its initial run (2006-2011). It was five seasons (!), and starred Sally Field (I had just finished reading her memoir, which was the motivating factor), and Calista Flockhart (who I adored in Ally McBeal). Rob Lowe (who I didn't find out about until later) was the proverbial icing. I also love that thirtysomething people are involved (Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig!), and that the atmospheric music is sooooo Six Feet Under (plus the soundtrack introduced me to so many wonderful songs, this title song just one example... :-)
Scary that The Walkers are so much like our family (or our family is much like theirs). I see myself in Nora (kind, generous and socially-conscious, with more than a touch of power and control issues), my Sarah is mostly their Sarah with a bit of Kitty thrown in (business-savvy, divorced mother), Rob is Kevin (the gay lawyer, who does a kick*ss velociraptor imitation) and Eric is Justin (baby of the family, battled addiction issues but cleaned up well). They drink a lot (pot, meet kettle!), and they cannot keep a secret at all (one tells another, and it eventually makes its way back around to whoever shared their deep darks, only to find it's all out in the open). Ack!
When I began watching, I had a series of epiphanies with each episode, which made me love my children even more. Halfway through the first season, though, it turned into a soap-opera-ish Perils of Pauline, with each episode ending on the proverbial cliffhanger (SPOILER ALERTS: oh no, the dad was having an affair for decades, and they incorporate her into the family!; oh no, the family business is going into bankruptcy!; oh no, the dad had a child with another woman (not the mistress, but someone else!); oh no, one of the daughters has cancer!; oh no, the gay couple's surrogate had a miscarriage!... or did she?!? Oh god, it's been a sh*tshow, but based on love and concern, of course.
I got Sarah hooked but, when it appeared to have "jumped the shark" early in the series, I swore that I was going to just quit watching... but Sarah convinced me to keep at it, and I agreed. Five seasons seemed daunting, but I ate it like an elephant, one bite at a time. We've each kept up with it in our separate homes, a few episodes apart, sometimes she's ahead, sometimes I am.
Season 5 (the last one, thankyoujesus) has 22 episodes, and it was Sarah's idea for us each to stop at the end of 20, and we would watch the last two together (*really* together, at her house). And that's what's happening tonight. I will spring for sushi and, in the spirit of the over-indulgent Walkers, there *will* be wine! I can't wait to finally pull the plug, but I must admit I'm going to miss them... 💔
P.S. This picture is hilarious, and takes me right back to our early days (May 1991!) of joyful chaos (ahem, why was Eric wearing an Indian headdress to Tom's - who Chico is holding - baptism, at which he and I were the godparents of Dan and Kai's little guy, adopted from Peru?!?), Rob yawning, Sarah grimacing. And just look at us now (above). Aren't we lucky and blessed?... 💖
NR: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (I chose this for Wednesday's book club Zoom meeting!)
BOOK: How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History by Annette Gendler
POEM: Slowly but Surely by Mario Benedetti
QUOTE: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
POEM: Slowly but Surely by Mario Benedetti
The future's coming slowly
slowly
but surely
right now it's hidden beyond
the surly clouds
and some still invisible
nimble heights
beyond the thunder's roar
and the spider's web
it's taking its time
like a determined flower
keeping track of the sun
perhaps that's why
daily life
prepares to greet it
settling exorbitant debts
opening new chapters in memory
but the future's
in no hurry
it's coming
slowly
finally bringing relief
bread for the hungry
battered angles
faithful swallows
slow
but not half-hearted
neither smug
nor a spoilsport
it's simply
coming
with its sharpened blade
and weighing scales
inquiring first
about our dreams
then our homelands
our latent memories
and our newborns
slowly
the future's coming
with its mondays and marches
its clenched fists and dark-ringed eyes and projects
slowly but swiftly
like a dim
still unnamed star
convalescent and slow
sheepish
proud
so very modest
that well-versed future we're shaping
we
and chance
but more and more we
less and less chance.
QUOTE: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
