I have a total friend-crush on Rosie O'Donnell. Yep, it's true. Which is weird, because on paper, we probably wouldn't make a good couple. I'm a Republican, I'm straight, and I'm not too crafty. But I'm pretty sure that if she met me in person, she'd like me. In fact, I've thought this for many years. I remember watching her show with my baby in his bouncy seat, watching her crush all over Tom, watching her celebrate her birthday on television (on my anniversary) and thinking: it's serendipity. We're meant to be friends.
When Rosie's show started, my oldest son was little, maybe eighteen months. I think her son Parker is close to the same age, so the stories she would tell on her show would make me laugh or cry, and I would wait all morning for her show to air. It was a break in my day, and I loved it. It was feel-good television. The audience loved her, there were give-aways, surprises, celebrity crushes and Broadway! I missed it when it went away.
We moved, I had two more babies, and heard through the news bits and pieces about Rosie, but I had to think. . . if bits and pieces about me ever traveled through the grapevine about me, would they always be flattering? Would they always be true? Ick. No thank you. Either way, my day-to-day relationship with Rosie was over. Until. . . The View.
My mother had been trying to force me to watch the view for years, and I had resisted.
"You would love it," she would say.
"No I wouldn't." Was I thirteen again? Was I protesting and refusing just because I could?
"You would like the Hot Topics, Christy."
"Mom," I would tell her, "there is not one person on that show that I could possibly relate to."
"Meredith is a mom," she would say. "You would like her."
"She is a working mom who doesn't wear underwear," was my standard comeback. So I didn't watch.
Until Rosie came back. And then I watched every day. Sometimes I got mad or frustrated, even at Rosie because my opinions and hers can be very different, but you know what? That's what makes the world go around. Mostly I got mad at the tone of the show. But I watched until Rosie's last shocking day.
Because I am a Republican, albeit socially liberal, which is a hard position in which to find both balance and political candidates, people may assume I aligned with Elizabeth during my short View-watching period. Not true. While I did feel like she was occasionally beaten-up and talked-over, I also felt that for such a young woman with such a long life ahead of her, I wanted her to be able to be more flexible, more open-minded, less factual and more soulful. Not to change her beliefs, but to look up from the papers and into her heart. I might not agree with every one of my friends, but I can look into their eyes and really try to see. Listen to them. Talk with them. Learn from them.
So Rosie was gone again. And I stopped watching The View. What did I say I was looking for on that show? Someone I could relate to. And while Rosie might not have stood for everything I stood for, or believed in everything I believed in (but really, who can? or who should?) the important stuff was there: kids, family, love, real life, truth, humor. That, I believe. That, I relate to.
Then, like a Christmas miracle, arrived Rosie Radio on Sirius XM Satellite Radio! It's my new favorite thing. If I miss it in the morning (though I try to do my errands at the right time, because I never remember to turn on my online XM in the house) I can catch a replay in my car when I am taking Jono to baseball. I am reminded all over again about why I loved listening to her in my house all those years ago when Jono, now 15, was a baby. Her real stories, her real questions, the real love of her viewers/listeners. Her friends, the truck drivers, her children, the squirrels, the singing, the honesty.
Today she was talking to Janeane Garofalo. And I got worried. Yikes, I thought, "They would really not like me." But you know what? All opinions of Fox News Radio aside, I think they actually might.
Have a good day, everyone :) Stay warm, drive safely, eat something delicious (you know I did-- it's Tuesday!) xxoo ~Christy
No comments:
Post a Comment