End of an Era

Four years ago one of my wishes came true in having Bewitched FINALLY arrive on DVD! Which meant every episode, un-edited and crystal clear in both picture and sound (mostly). My friend Sharon decided to pull an Oprah and created "Bewitched Club", just like book club except we wouldn't be reading, we'd be watching! And what we'd be watching is one episode, three times a week (Tuesday - Thursday) and discussing what we had watched. She wanted to be able to watch the series in order as though she were watching it for the first time and wanted to hear what other fans thought. I thought it was a great idea and so I joined along with a few of our other Bewitched friends. Keep in mind, none of us live in the same state or even country, so this was all done through e-mail. We began at the end of summer 2005, just after the First Season had been released.

It was great! I loved hearing what others thought, especially Sharon, because she is so funny and has a way of relating her thoughts in a very entertaining way. Plus there were certain things that would be brought up that I hadn't noticed before or behind-the-scenes info that I didn't know. And sometimes I would know things that they didn't know.

It took us some time to get through the First Season as it has a staggering 36 episodes!! Normally shows today only have about 24 so it took about three or four months just to get through the First Season and by that time the Second Season had been released and it was 38 episodes! Each season through the Fourth would be released about every three months until the Fifth and then it was almost a year.

Over the course of time, pretty much all the other participants fell to the wayside leaving just Sharon and I to discuss, which was fine by me, because most of the time the others simply said, "I love this episode!" or "I hate this episode!" but wouldn't elaborate on what exactly they loved/hated about it.

One of the things I looked forward to most was when we arrived at the Switching of the Durwoods, Dick York for Dick Sargent, because for as long as I've known Sharon, I've also known she cannot STAND Dick Sargent. I couldn't wait to hear her scathing remarks about him. As it turns out though, she grew to appreciate him and when the last season came out most of her scathing remarks were directed, and not without good cause, towards Elizabeth Montgomery who seemingly was not into the part at all anymore.

Well, anyway just this past summer the Eighth and Final Season was released and just yesterday we watched the last of the 254 episodes and now I'm sad:( No more Bewitched Club! It was like mini-Christmas waiting for a season to be released and even more so to wonder what Sharon would think of the episodes. Sharon and I have a joke about us sharing One Brain because most likely one of us will send the other an email about something that the other sends about the same time and on the same subject (not necessarily Bewitched). But it was surprising how many times we totally disagreed on the brilliance or horribleness of an episode. But even if we did, it was still fun discussing.

Sharon and I are in a "mourning" about no more Bewitched Club but I suppose we'll get over it. Maybe we'll start I Dream of Jeannie Club!

A Quarter Century Sister

Tomorrow my sister, the only sister I have and youngest sibling, Heather, is turning 25 years old! Want to know what I think of that?

CRAZY!!!

I was just about to turn eight years old when she was born. It seemed the whole world was in awe that my parents, after three boys, finally received a little girl. I even remember Great Great Grandma Blackburn, who was around 101 years old, saying she couldn't believe that my dad was finally going to get a baby girl. It was also a miracle that another baby was born as my parents had been trying for another baby for over two years and it seemed that another wouldn't ever happen.

Our house was crazy town forever what with the entire neighborhood over constantly to see the beautiful new girl. I also thought I was never going to be able to hold her.

Heather was seriously so cute! She had the prettiest blue eyes and a cherub face. It also seemed she was very smart because she started speaking in full sentences when she was just under two years old. She was also very girly and had to have everything purple or pink. She even had what she called her "sexy suit" which was a black and purple pin-striped jump suit with a plastic purple belt and poofy sleeves. And she called it her "sexy suit" at just two! Very smart and funny!

I always used to read to her, mainly the Little House on the Prairie books, and think that had a huge part in her love of literature and writing. It made me sad when she grew older and didn't want me to read to her anymore.

One of my favorite memories was the night before we went to Disneyland for the first time as a family when I was 10 and she was 2, she was laying in bed with me as we were trying to fall asleep and I would ask her, "Are we going to see Mickey Mouse?" And her little voice responding, "Yes." "Are we going to see Winnie Ah Pooh (that's what she called him)?" "Yes" and going through a whole list of characters until she fell asleep.

Heather has always had a marvelous sense of humor and a very contagious laugh. If you ever think something may not be remotely funny, just watch with her.

She's also been my traveling buddy when I would go on my "Bewitched" vacations, specifically to Reno to visit our friend, Andrea, for Halloween. We always had fun singing along to the tapes/CDs we brought or laughing our fool heads off at the sign for Pioche, which Heather pronounced (with a whole lot of phlegm) "PEE-auggh!!" LOLOLOLOL

Anyway, I just thought I'd post some memories of my sister. I can't believe she's not a little girl anymore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!

Update on Grandma

The day after I posted last I went to visit Grandma who had somewhat come out of her coma. She looked terrible! Which is to be expected when 1) you're close to 90, 2) you've just experienced a heart attack and 3) a stroke. But still, it was shocking.

I held her hand and told her I was there and she said "That's nice." I stupidly asked her how she was feeling, cause what else are you supposed to say, and she groggily replied, "I'm fine. Don't you worry." And then she fell back into her coma/sleep.

Since then she's been talking about how she forgot to make dinner for her mother, who's been long dead and the other day my cousins went to visit her and I guess she wasn't conscious at the time they arrived so they came back later and told her they were sorry they missed her before. She said, "It's OK. Grandpa told me you stopped by." Keep in mind Grandpa left this world in November 1991. So the veil is quite thin.

The doctor said that he gave her a week, and that was last week. I was very glad to have seen her and been given the chance one more time to tell her that I loved her.

It's been quite stressful, though, thinking that every phone call is going to be "the One". Especially at work, and you see that someone in your family has called multiple times in a short span, only to find out they just had something else to say but were hoping to catch me on break. Not to mention trying to stifle the emotions so you can function somewhat normally at work only to have all those efforts shattered when a customer, in response to "How are you doing this evening?" say, "Not very well, my mom just died." Luckily, she had a sense of humor and knew the awkwardness of the predicament she just put me in. Unfortunately though, her mother's situation was quite similar to Grandma's, and therefore I had a little breakdown at work...it's so embarrassing.

I just wish Grandma could leave right this minute. But I'm thinking she's being stubborn and that's why her mother and my Grandpa have been hanging around. I believe that one person comes to escort you beyond the veil and for some reason Grandma's being stubborn about it necessitating two people. We'll know it's really bad if she starts mentioning her father or any of her mostly deceased siblings.

But all kidding aside, please pray that she'll be released from her body so that she can finally have peace, and also that me and my family can have some peace.