Any soap opera junkies out there?
I used to be, but I gave them up when my boys were toddlers and they starting expressing concern about Nikki and Jack on The Young and the Restless. It wasn't easy to give up my very favorite soap though since my mom, grandparents, and mother in law were also addicted to As The World Turns. And they talked about it!
It seems like a colossal waste of time now, but I cut everyone a lot of slack for this habit because I think for all of us it was just a chance to sit down and rest for 30 minutes after a busy morning and before a busy afternoon ahead.
Sometimes my "logic" isn't very logical. Taking a short nap or sitting down with a good book seemed "lazy", but it was ok to watch a show that glorified adultery, money, alcohol, and even smoking cigarettes nonstop. My cousins and I used to practice smoking with crayon "cigarettes" when we played house and I blame the Hughes family. I'm very thankful I didn't like the real thing, so that is one bad habit I didn't have to break.
On Memorial Day, I had Chris and Nancy and Bob and Lisa Hughes on my mind. Those people knew how to celebrate a holiday. I remember the family dressed to the hilt on the patio gathered around the flagpole after a fabulous boozy picnic. They made messy lives look so good! I decided when I was in high school that was the life for me.
Minus the adultery, alcoholism, and other vices, of course.
I had very definite ideas what my adult life was going to look like. I WAS NOT going to marry a farmer. I was going to marry someone with a 9-5 job, live in a nice suburb or city and celebrate holidays like my soap opera role models.
Fast forward 37 years, and here we are.
I did marry a farmer, and I wouldn't have it any other way. My dreams of picnics dressed in designer clothes seem ridiculous now.
We spend most Memorial Days, 4th of July's, and Labor Days working our tails off. But we are not alone. When I made a trip to the John Deere store after parts on Monday, the counter was fully staffed. When I stopped at the welder's house to pick up the repairs, he was hard at it. When I needed supplies to feed everyone, the checkout girls were polite and smiling. And when a tire on one of the implements busted, the people at the tire store stayed open late while I drove 20 minutes for them to fix it.
I'll leave the soap opera characters to the life I imagined, and I'll join my friends and neighbors and get to work. We have a hungry world to feed.
And it takes a village.
This post puts soap operas vs. real life in perspective! I hear a lot of talk about soaps, but I've never taken the time to watch one, I have always preferred a good book...
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching soaps with my grandmother. Oh man, the time I wasted!
ReplyDeleteOh you brought me back a few years in this post Susan! I was hooked on As the World Turns, but broke that bad habit years ago when the children were small. I didn't have the time to waste and certainly don't now either. lol
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I had a dairy and farmed for the first 16 years of our marriage and then he became a police officer and we gave up dairying. But I love the life and wouldn't have given up raising my children on a farm for anything. I don't think I would know how to operate one of the new tractors out there these days but I relish the memories of having to go out to bale with at least one of the children beside me in the cab of the tractor. Thanks for resurrecting these memories for me today.
hugs,
Great post. I never really watched Soap Operas...except when my youngest son was a baby. He always nursed at 11:30 am when Ryan's Hope came on...set in an Irish setting and my son's name is Ryan. It was a fun watch. The "bad girl", Deliah, always stuck out in my mind.
ReplyDeleteYou did good there, Susan! xo Diana
I grew up without a tv but my aunt was so addicted to them she'd tape them if she couldn't be home. And sometimes chose to stay home just so she could watch them. It's it good God doesn't give us all our dreams?! Now to me, a city girl, I would have enjoyed the farm. Gathering eggs seems so romantic. Are you laughing?
ReplyDeleteJoyfully, Pamela
I grew up on the Soaps as well but similar to your story, when our daughter was a toddler it made me take a closer look at what she might be seeing as I watched and the programming changed. I laugh when I see an occasional commercial for the few soaps left because they seem so phony but oh, how they sucked us in. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteHi Susan! I was a General Hospital girl myself. Yes, it was a silly diversion. And how slow the plot would go too! Not watch for a week was ok, they'd still be there when I got back. In the same room! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI always thought I'd marry a farmer. I dated a farm guy for three years in college. I moved to Tucson as a young 20's woman, thinking I'd find a rancher. Oh well. I married a business man and it's been great.
God knows what we need!
Happy Tuesday my friend :)
Ceil