It's 1967. Hot day in Southern California. I'm driving an old car without AC. I'm tired. Just another average day in Paradise.
I drive into the garage. Start to open the door to the house. Mama is babysitting our kids. She opens the door before I do.
"Well, Neal died!" she says.
WHOOP! My heart pounds! I feel the blood rush from my head. NEAL DIED! My heart almost stops.
Wait...What the....? Who the hell is Neal? I don't know any Neal. "Mama, who is Neal"?
"NEAL! You know. Neal on As the World Turns."
That Mama.
She watched the soap opera As the World Turns for 45 years. She talked to the television, warning characters to be careful, "Don't listen to him. He's a liar." "She's up to no good!" She gave'em a piece of her mind all right.
Personally I preferred Carol Burnett's As the Stomach Turns.
I told her she'd be in real trouble if she ever scared me that way again. She smiled her little smile. Silly me.
15 comments:
Soap Operas -- SOAP operas?!? I resent the use of the word "Soap" in this context. Soap Operas, so called, are the Devil's diaries. Devil, get thee OUT!
That's funny. My MIL and FIL watch a soap opera together. One will say, "I'm going to go and watch my story." They get the tape out and watch it together each evening. My MIL has watched it faithfully for over 40 years. She says there are a couple of characters that have been there from the beginning. That's dedication.
My favorite soap? Dark Shadows - I used to watch it every day after school. Yes, I was a nerd in the 60's.
The Missus can't go a day without All My Children. If, for some reason she misses an episode, the Soap Channel is on later that night.
Your mom's a riot. Of course, Little Bar of Soap is right,
Granny (Ynnarg Yoda Pez) was so cute with her soaps... and all of her "programs". She was kind of like Rainman: 5 minutes 'til Wopner!
Dark Shadows! I loved Dark Shadows! And your mother seems to me to have been a lot like my MIL must have been (she passed before we married). Totally intent on what she was doing at the time, sweet. xoxoxo
I think my grandma has been watching since they came out and she is 90 now. She cannot seem to get enough. Thank you for stopping by.
(((Tan Lucy)))
Bless her heart! Sometimes these TV personas become bigger than the people in life.
LOVE these stories!! I think I can remember your face when you heard that Neal had died ... lol
*sniff*
*wipes tear from eye*
Funny! It's always been strange to me that anyone could get THAT into a TV show. But, to each her own!
Geez, Lucy. You had me at Neal.
Great story!
45 years of As The World Turns? That is dedication!
I think I'm starting to fall in love with Mama.
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