Dream Weekend with a New Friend

This weekend has seemed like a dream. First of all, Bewitched Season 8 (the final season) arrived on DVD which I thought would NEVER happen! But after four years I now have all 254 episodes in their unedited form* in crystal clear clarity and sound!

So I decided I would do something fun and host a DVD viewing party.

Well, back up....

...a couple months ago I became friends with this woman named Dayna who had heard the Morning Zoo always talking about me and she realized that we worked together so she hit me up on Facebook. We didn't work the same shift so I had only seen her in person like once or twice and only for a couple minutes. She found out I love Bewitched and told me she did too, that she watches it all the time and she really wanted to see my memorabilia collection in person.

That has NEVER happened. Ever! Especially not from someone who isn't on a Bewitched fan site. So I told Dayna that I would set up a time for her to come over and decided that with the release of Season 8, that would be perfect. She could come over, I'd invite other friends and we'd watch a couple episodes, visit, play games and just have fun.

Well, my idea sounded good on paper but I was shocked by how many people, ALL of them to be exact, said "no" to my invitation. For some reason Bewitched has this stigma that apparently I am not aware of that invokes anger and apathy in everyone. I couldn't believe that not a one of my friends said they wanted to come, and in fact, the day of the party one of them, apparently forgetting that I had invited her, had the chutzpa to invite me to a gathering at her house. I thought simply doing something different and at a different venue (my house, cause nobody ever comes over here) would be fun, but apparently only Dayna and I shared that thought.

A couple hours before the party was to start, Dayna offered that since nobody else was going to come, what about coming over to her house with SURROUND SOUND and a 52" plasma screen TV to watch Bewitched and then we could swim in her pool! Well, how could I refuse?! For one, I'm operating on a mid 90s 32" tube TV that has faint wavy lines, no surround sound and definitely no pool and it's been in the 100s around here. So I said sure and told her I'd bring the snacks and drinks.

I brought my binder full of 8 x 10 Bewitched photos since Dayna was going to miss out on seeing my collection and she was very glad I did. She said she loves looking at still photos from TV shows. See, Dayna used to work in Hollywood as a script continuity supervisor and so she gets as excited about Hollywood stuff as I do. I also decided that maybe she'd want to watch other episodes of Bewitched so I just brought the other seasons too. She was very glad that I did and so was her 7-year old daughter who was so excited that I came. The first thing she said was that she and her mother always watch Bewitched when it's on TV. Another magical thing was that Dayna resembles Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha) and Erin Murphy (Tabitha). She told me when she was little that she very much looked like Tabitha.

As Dayna had a 5 disc DVD changer, we selected 5 DVDs from different seasons deciding that we'd try to watch 5 episodes. I chose my favorite episode "Allergic to Macedonian Dodo Birds", Dayna said she wanted to watch any of the episodes where they go on vacation so we put in the disc with the Salem episodes and Hailey (her daughter) wanted to see the Loch Ness Monster episode, which happens to be from the Eighth Season and a disc with some Tabitha episodes (cause Hailey likes her).

Now keep in mind, I kept thinking, "Is this really happening?! Am I really talking to someone here in my hometown that actually WANTS to watch Bewitched with me?" All of the time I get rolled-eyes and patronizing comments but Dayna and Hailey were so excited! And so we began with my favorite episode and munched on 'pean-pean butter' (that's how Mayson says 'peanut butter') M&Ms, Tomato-Basil Wheat Thins and sipped on Diet Coke and Root Beer.

Watching Bewitched on a big screen was phenomenal! I'm so sad now that I don't have a huge TV:( We went into watching "The Salem Saga" where Samantha and Durwood fly to Salem and get harrassed by a hexed bedwarmer at the House of Seven Gables, part one of two.

We decided to swim and it was glorious being in that cool water amid the horrible heat. The sun was going down and the thin clouds were beautiful in the sky. We even saw a huge flock of geese flying south for the....summer? They were quite low. It was so nice visiting out in the pool, especially when Dayna sent Hailey in so we could have some grown-up chat.

After we got out we watched part two, "Samantha's Hot Bedwarmer" and then "Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster" and decided to call it a night.

Dayna said we must do that often, as she totally loved it. I did too! And what is strange is all though we've just met we feel as though we've known each other forever.

As much as I was annoyed by my friends brushing me off, it was satisfying knowing they missed out on a really relaxing fun night and the opportunity to meet such a great new person!

*There are a couple episodes from Seasons One and Three that have a few scenes edited, but it's no biggie.

An apology, 20 years later...

...the most amazing thing happened this weekend which I never thought would, and that is an apology for an event that took place in Junior High which drastically altered my life, an event to which I pinpoint almost everything wrong with me. I'm in awe of this apology not only because it happened, but by how much it made me feel better.

Growing up my best friend was Jessica Fitton. She lived down the road and we were together so much that we were referred to by everyone in the neighborhood as Mr. and Mrs. Pierce. We always worked out having our classes together and I really loved her. She was my best friend. Well, in 8th grade she began hanging out with these snobby girls, particularly Brigette Nielsen who didn't like me and didn't treat me well at all, which was weird, because everybody liked me. One day, as I was going to the table at lunch to sit with Jessica, I could see that Brigette was whispering to Jessica and it was about me as they were both focused on me. When I sat down, I tried to make small talk and then Jessica spoke up and said, "David, you can't sit with us anymore." I asked why not and she said, "Because you're a boy and I'm a girl and we just can't be friends."

Needless to say that obliterated me.

It hurt more than anything that has ever happened before or really since. To me, it felt like she was saying I was totally worthless and not even good enough for anybody and I suppose I harbored that feeling causing me to eat myself into comfort and my "husky" size not to mention I didn't want to ever feel like that again at the hand of some girl that I loved, which means I've tried my hardest not to fall in love with someone because I knew what they were capable of, and that came true with Rachel...but anyway....I still went to school with Jessica through high school and it was horrible seeing her there because I just felt so stupid and I really missed her. We've seen each other occasionally over the years and we've been cordial and all, but I've always had hurt when I've seen her.

I've always thought she never gave it a single thought until this weekend when on Facebook I posted a message asking people to name a memory they had of me. She replied with the following:

So many memories! Probably the most memorable was when I would steal my dad's cowboy books and come down and read the sex scenes to you and Paul! Also, in Jr. High when I thought I was too cool to hang out with you, little did I know that you were too cool for me! Sorry about that, I was jerk!

I was floored!! Her apology came out of nowhere! I take this to mean that her actions have been gnawing on her ever since then and it's taken 20 years for her to actually say she was sorry! I honestly was so taken back. It makes me feel better to hear it. True, I still wish it had never happened, but kids are dumb and I'm very glad she apologized. Now I can save all that money on therapy that I was going to have to do:)