Monday, September 13, 2010

Oprah!


Today Oprah started her Farewell Season. I cried & cried. This isn't anything new for me... I cry when Oprah is happy, sad & when she's giving things away. Today I bawled. I am just so sad it's going to be over. I am so sad that Molly won't grow up with Oprah the way I did. I never really stopped to think of how she has changed my life, but she has. An hour a day, since I was 5, when my mom first started to watch... until I was old enough to watch it myself.
My mom taped Oprah on our VHS Machine. My dad worked away so I understand now why mom taped the show. She wanted to wait until we were in bed so she could watch it, uninterrupted. I actually remember waking up & going downstairs where my mom was watching Oprah & doing the ironing. I curled up on the couch & watched with her. I don't remember what the show was about, but I remember my mom was so happy, ironing late at night. And I remember the smell of the steaming iron & that I was so happy she was letting me stay up.
When 9/11 happened I remember her first show back on the air. I don't remember how she said it, but she put the message out there that 24/7 coverage of negative news events aren't good & that it would do us all good to TURN OFF THE TV for a while & take a break. I remember to do that now. I don't need to be bombarded with images of earthquakes and war 24/7. While it's good to be informed, taking a break will minimize the shell shock. We need to be affected by these events. But we need to take away a message and not an image. This idea has served me so well in many parts of my life... it's about perspective, it's about positivity & it's about the value of life.
Thanks Oprah.

3 comments:

Kimberly said...

you continue to surprise me....
So what did you do when it was Dr. Phil Tuesdays???? Not watch?

Starr Mercer said...

Loved her show today too! It's going to be an emotional/great season!

Jennifer DeWolfe said...

I remeber watching her for years but now that I work I rarely get to see her. That is a great message though about turning off the tv. I say that all the time. Awhile ago I was watching the news when the annoucer said that the following content was not suitable for young viewers and then they went on to show pictures of a brutal crime scene. I couldn't believe it! It was dinner time! Sometimes I think we've seen so much of this stuff that we are now desensitized to it. It's sad really! Wow ... guess you struck a cord there with me :)