New York City - Day 2

We woke up in New York City on day two to 42 degree rainy weather.  I was under dressed and had to change clothes after breakfast before heading out with Lawrence and the group, minus our New York couple who were off visiting Jyoti's father in Queens.

We set off about an hour after the kids headed off to their conference.  The rain was coming down harder and Lawrence and I were the only ones with umbrellas?  "What is that?" Lawrence asked when I pulled out my tiny $13 Target purse sized umbrella.  He snorted at it and told me it wouldn't last the day in the wind.  I was determined to prove him wrong.  I didn't.

On the agenda was a trip to Ground Zero. We started off walking, but Lawrence decided to give us the experience of taking the train so we popped down into the underground and Lawrence showed us how to buy a Metro Card

Apparently the night before someone had been injured on the tracks, and so Lawrence warned us about staying behind the bold yellow line.  I mentioned seeing an episode of Elementary where someone was pushed on to the tracks and how at the time I had questioned why people stood so close to the tracks.  Today no one was even close to the yellow line so I chalked that up to television liberties.  (Uh, foreshadowing....)

We got off the subway and John bought two umbrellas from a street vendor selling them for $5.  I had to hear about that great deal the rest of the rainy, cold day as my little purple poka-dotted umbrella blew inside and out at whim.  The wind was very gusty at times and it was cold enough that those of us who had gloves wore them.

We had to ask directions on getting to Ground Zero and when we got there we had to turn around and go back several blocks to the building where they passed out tickets.  The tickets are free, but donations are welcome.  We each gave the $10 donation (and more) to receive a commemorative bracelet and headed back out into the rain for the walk back to the memorial.  It seemed longer this time, but maybe that was because the rain began coming down harder as we walked.  Once at the memorial you have to go inside another building where all of your belongings, coats, etc. are checked like the security at an airport.  When you pass that you give someone your ticket and head back outside to take what seemed like a two mile walkway to the memorial.  It was all worth it when we finally got there.

Without saying a word to each other we spread out and went our separate ways.  I stood at the corner of one of the monuments with the names of some of the firefighters engraved.  I stood in the rain and just remembered that day.  I didn't even know I was crying in the beginning, but as I had wound my way through the maze of streets to get here I had been thinking of all of the people that day running those very same streets as the horror unfolded around them.  I tried to imagine the cloud of dust and pieces of building and god knows what else fluttering down among them as they ran.  I remembered where I was that morning and then the rest of the day; holed up in front of the television with a friend, whose husband was out of town like mine, while our children played innocently in the next room.

I stood there for quite some time.  I felt guilty taking a photo as if it were sacrilegious somehow, yet I felt like I needed to let the world know the power of this memorial (because the world reads my blog?). I eventually joined the rest of the group who had one by one wandered over the still-under-construction museum.  We stood there for some time thinking our own thoughts, talking about the moment, remembering that day.  Eventually we went inside another building where items are sold that benefit the New York City police departments and fire departments.  In there was the story from the beginning on one wall that stretched out around the room to the ending, the capture and death of Bin Laden, covering the last wall.  A powerful video played on a giant screen with some of the survivors and some family members who lost talking about how they and we must all go on with our lives.  It was just powerful.

Our mood was somber as we hiked out of the area.  We took another subway ride and then we walked some more.  We visited New York University where we all agreed we would not send our children.  We had lunch and warmed our insides with hot coffee and soup at another New York City deli.  This time I was starving and ordered the Corn Beef Reuben to share with Lawrence along with the soup.  The food in New York is so good, the best food I've ever had hands down.  Maybe it was because of all of the exercise, but my mouth still waters just thinking about the food.

We walked around the city until almost three o'clock.  We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral which was open despite restorations.  We walked around Greenwich Village.  We walked past the Plaza Hotel where dog walkers were returning the pets to side entrances.  We went into the park near NYU and we walked past a couple of museums.  At the end of the rainy afternoon we hopped the subway and rode into Grand Central Station where we all retired to our rooms for naps, showers, and warmth.

That night we had less than an hour to feed our kids and have them back down in the lobby for a dance at the conference.  They were out partying until ten o'clock.  I stayed in my room where I pried open my eyes with toothpicks and read until the girls (I had an unaccompanied girl - no parent with her - in our room) returned and we could go to bed.  All three of us were out by eleven.

New York City - Day 1

My youngest daughter, Darcy, was chosen as one of twenty-six delegates to represent her school at the Model United Nations Conference in New York City this past April and I accompanied her.  The kids were busy at the conference from sun up until sun down which left the parents on their own to see the city.  Having not been to New York City since the 80's, I was a tad nervous and latched on to one of the fathers in the group.  Lawrence lived in Manhattan years ago and he offered to show me a good time.

When we arrived the temperature was twenty degrees colder then Florida.  The day was overcast, dreary, and the leave-less trees reminded me of Indiana in the winter and the reason why I now live in the south.  We took a $70 cab ride into the city from JFK to our airport where we checked in.  Darcy had to be in business attire and in the lobby by 1:00 pm to meet the rest of the group.  They got instructions, lined up, and headed out into the city to walk to the United Nations building.  We were told they would return around 8:30 pm for dinner.

Lawrence and I headed out with two other couples, one of whom was my friend from New York, and another dad.  My friend's husband and Lawrence took the lead each deferring to one another so that my head spent a lot of time turning from one to the other as they explained locals and histories.  Each seemed quite excited to show me their city.

First up was Grand Central Station which was two blocks from our hotel.  Built in 1913 it is celebrating its 100 years of existence.  We went inside to have the experience and later I actually took a train into Grand Central Station...twice.

Our tour group

    

We headed out of Grand Central Station and began our walk to Times Square.  Lawrence had asked me prior to our trip what I would like to see and he planned our days around that and the area.  We passed Madison Ave. and walked and walked and walked.  I did well with all of the walking despite my lack of gym exercise, but I could have used a masseur each night.

Times Square was not as crowded as I expected, but it was early afternoon on a Thursday.  It was surreal to be walking down the sidewalks and looking up at all of the buildings that grace so many movie and television screens.

Lawrence explained that once upon a time the roads were all open to motor vehicles and the place was a mad house, but that they have since closed off roads for pedestrians.  Those places now have tables and chairs for sitting and taking in the experience or for just sitting and talking.  There is also a huge concrete seating area that faces one side of Time Square. 

We walked Times Square taking in all the advertising and points of interest.  We walked down the Broadway strip and talked about which shows we would have liked to have seen had we had more time.  We peeked in at the news stations.  We watched the Naked Cowboy perform on the streets.

From Times Square we walked to Rockefeller Plaza, passing by the one place I remember from my previous trip to New York City; Radio City Music Hall.  Back then David Letterman recorded from there and I was so hoping to get inside to see him.  Unfortunately it was a Sunday and the place was closed up.  This time we walked on past.  David Letterman is now at the Sullivan Theater, and was not filming any of the days while we were here.

We stood around Rockefeller Plaza by the melted ice skating rink and discussed coming the next day to stand outside of the Today Show building.  My friend, Jyoti, is a huge Today Show fan, but the other woman in our party, Cindy, was a Good Morning America girl.  I squelched both of their plans because I had already researched both areas and to even get close you had to be there early.

Our schedule was such that we had to feed our children and get them to the lobby of the hotel by 7:30 the next morning thus putting us too late to sneaking into either morning news show.  I was more interested in Live with Kelly & Michael, but that too you had to be at early to get any leftover seating.

We began walking again.  Each hour the temperature kept dropping, but I wasn't too cold with all of the walking.  We went into the Trump Tower and stood outside of Tiffany & Co. debating whether or not to enter it.  The two women in the party wanted to go into the jewelry haven and the other three men in the party wanted to go underground into the Apple store.  Lawrence and I just kept on walking.

We got to Central Park a little before five o'clock and stopped to people watch.  The streets were getting busy with cabs and people getting off of work.  Horse drawn carriages were parked outside of the park offering rides to tourists and if we could have fit in one carriage we probably would have been talked into a ride.  Instead Cindy talked and petted the horses while we discussed where to go next.

We ended up inside an Irish pub drinking beer and watching the Masters golf tournament on TV.  It was nice to sit down for a change, but all the nerves in my legs were firing every which way.  By the time they calmed down it was time to get up and head back toward the hotel miles and miles away to meet our kids.

Later Darcy and I went with a group of fathers and their kids to a deli down from our hotel for dinner.  The kids sat at one table and the dads and I sat at another table.  "A rose among many thorns," one father said when I pointed out I was the only female at the table.

The waitress came and took our drink orders while we looked at the menu which was ten pages long.  I never knew there were that many deli sandwiches in the world.  We ordered and she told us to help ourselves to the salad bar around the corner which turned out to be a pickle bar with two different types of pickles as big as cucumbers, coleslaw, and a cucumber/onion/tomato salad.  By the time we had devoured our plates our food was there.  That was the one thing that surprised me about NYC; how quickly the food arrived after you ordered.  I wondered if they even cooked the stuff, but was told that because the establishments are so small these places had to serve twice the people that places outside of New York serve.  Thus the quick food preparation and hustling out the door momentum I got used to by the end of the trip.

When we returned to the hotel we all showered and fell into bed quickly.  We had been up since 4:30 in the morning and with all of the walking we were ready to hit the sheets!

Thank goodness for Starbucks.com

One of the things I found in the cleaning of my closet (way back when) was a Starbucks gift card inside an old wallet.  I had no idea if it was still good so I called the phone number on the back of the card.  I pushed the required buttons until the automated voice told me to enter the account number on the back of the card.  I did this, but then the voice asked me to enter the 8 or 9 digit security number found under the scratch off bar on the bottom of the back of the card.

Before I go further with this I have to confess, these types of things make me nervous.  By things I mean places where I have to give information to a voice.  When we go through the drive thru at a fast food restaurant my kids know that they have to have their orders ready to give to me so that I can quickly give it to the faceless voice at the speaker.  As soon as I pull up and I'm spoken to through that speaker I'm a nervous wreck.  I envision long lines behind me and irritated personnel behind the stove just waiting while I hem and haw.  I've been known to break out into a sweat while the passengers in my car read the menu, and more then half the time I'm grouchily yelling at them to hurry.

When the voice at the other end of the phone prompted me to enter the security code I felt myself starting to sweat because the silver bar at the bottom of the card was not scratched off.  This meant that I would have to take time to find a coin, scratch the code, and then enter it all while the headless voice at the other end of the phone waited for me.  I was in my bedroom using the phone that sits by my husband's side of the bed.  There were no coins handy in his drawer so I jumped up and stumbled to my dresser where I usually have a handful of quarters in a bowl decorated by one of my children in an art class.  Unfortunately I had moved those quarters into my car where I was using them to buy a paper for my mother who was at the time in a rehab facility.  Again the voice prompted me to enter the security code.  The sweat started rolling down my back in two little rivets.

I got into our piggy bank that holds our loose change.  The first coin I pulled out was a nickel that did not put a dent into the silver bar at the bottom of the card.  I tried a quarter, but that too did not do the trick.  Again the voice told me what to do.  "I'm trying," I screamed, scaring the dog from his napping spot.  I left the bedroom and headed into the kitchen where I found a knife.  At this point the voice informed me that I had failed this simple task and would now be connected to a customer service representative who would be able to assist me.  Knowing this would be a real human, I quickly hung up.

I ranted and raved some about the injustice of it all.  I used the knife to try to remove the silver bar, but it took me several tries with lots of pressure before I could even put a scratch into it.  What the hell? I thought.  How hard is this thing?  A couple more scratches revealed nothing underneath and suddenly a small light began growing brighter in my head.  This was not the silver bar I was suppose to be scratching after all, but the silver bar that is scanned into the register when making a purchase.  The silver bar that deducts the amount from the card.  The silver bar that will now not work with all these scratches in it.

The security number was not where the voice had told me, but was to the right of the account number and it had already been scratched off.  I went through the phone process again, punching in the correct numbers, to reveal that I had $10.47 left on the card that would now not work due to my knife scratchings.  What to do, what to do?

I lay awake quite some time that night trying to solve the issue.  Then I remembered that several months prior I had registered yet another gift card with Starbucks online and that one of the perks available was transferring all of your gift card money on to one gift card.  That way you didn't have to keep track of but one card.  All I needed to do that transaction were the account numbers of both cards.

I like Starbucks.  I especially like it during our winter months when I can drop off Darcy at school and zip through the drive thru, knowing my order ahead of time to avoid unnecessary stress.  I use to never veer from my drink, but lately I've been experimenting.  I find that I enjoy the chai tea latte, but not the caramel macchiato.  My favorite is still the peppermint mocha.  People love to give me gift cards and registering online allows me to earn points and free drinks.  The only downside I see is that you have to use the gift card to get the rewards so you have to keep refreshing your card with money.  Hopefully, they will come up with a key tag or something.

I transferred my money from the corrupt and useless card on to my good card.  Then I drove through the drive thru and lived it up ordering not only my tea but a pastry as well.  Thanks Starbucks!

The new yard

I told the sad, sordid tale of our homeowner's association coming down on us about our yard
a couple of months ago.  Last month amidst all of the hospitalizations and children's illnesses we got started on replacing it.  We went with the company who replaced my neighbor across the street's lawn.  He offered to do the new sod and the landscaping, but we only shelled out for one and since we had too much crab grass taking over the yard we agreed the sod would benefit us more.

First up was soaking the lawn with a killer spray.  It sat for several days while we watched our yard wither away into a brown mess of deadness.  The lawn guy arrived after the death and spent some time hoeing and shoveling until the deadness was bagged and gone from our yard and only the earth remained behind.

The next day the sod arrived.  In bulk.  With only one guy to do the work.  I was on my way to the hospital to visit my mother, but I felt the need to commiserate with the lone lawn worker.  I told him about my one experience in laying grass on a golf course.  I'm not sure that my story of coming home with grass in my nose translated well.

We left him to it.  He assured me the boss was coming to help him lay it.  I don't know if that happened, but when I returned my lawn looked great.

The landscaping is slowly coming along via the husband.  He was on a roll until he broke his finger and sprained his wrist playing softball, a sport I have never known him to play since we have been together some 20+ years and one he played while I was away in New York.  The cast on his left hand has hindered his landscaping somewhat, but I'll post pictures soon.

All in all, I am thrilled with the way my house and yard look.  Now I'm on to remodeling the kids/guest bathroom inside the house.

4 month 2013 resolution check

It is time once again to check in on how well I'm doing with the resolutions.  I score myself from 1 - 10 and tally up the scores, aiming for a perfect 50 points.  I've yet to ever get that 50, but I keep thinking that I will and that is what is important.

1. To get down to a certain weight (which will not be mentioned here for all to see) by eating healthy and exercising - Hmmm...this is a tough one.  The diet went out the window during all of the mother health scares, but the weight kept shredding and I didn't gain.  I didn't exercise during this period.  What to do, what to do in the scoring department.  I don't feel it can be perfect, but since I did continue loosing I suppose I'll keep it somewhat high.  Score:7
2. To organize my schedule, my desk, my home, and finish the scanning/organizing of photos.  That means getting rid of stuff and boxing up and storing other stuff. -This one I've worked harder at then the last check-in.  My iphone keeps me organized via scheduling and I did work on organizing and scanning photos because Darcy needed her life done for a school project.  My desk is fairly clean and I've been "flying" in the bathrooms.  Score: 7
3. To work on my patience and try to not be so uptight.  To channel my inner Sharons, two people who I think handle life calmly -Still feel I'm doing well with this one, although with the stress I might have lost a point.  Score: 6
4. To get into couponing to save money - The digital coupons at my local grocery is SO nice.  Now if I can only get them to offer more coupons that benefit me!  I have to confess that I cut out a $10 savings on $50 of groceries and then left it at home when I went to shop.  I'm still kicking myself for that one.   Score:  5
5. To contribute more articles to Yahoo and Google and try to earn some cash - Nope.  Haven't written daily.  Haven't finished my online classes.  Have sucked at this one. Score:0

Total:  25 out of 50 points - I will have to stop using my mother and stress as an excuse.  My mother's life is such that I've got to learn to juggle our two lives.  Hopefully with the help of caregivers in her home this will free me up to continue on my resolution path to a perfect score!

Recent life in pictures

**We live in Florida and with that comes sharing our house with critters of the region; cockroaches and lizards.  One I can live with and the other I can not.  I don't like lizards in my house, but I'll take them over the cockroaches.  Recently we had a lizard come in through the open back door.  I figured Elliot would find him eventually, but apparently, that didn't happen.

Most of the time the lizards don't live long without some source of water and since this lizard seemed to always hang out on or around my desk I kept figuring I would find him dried out and dead on the window sill.  I was wrong. Madison and Darcy find him at various times during the day sitting and chilling on Darcy's bed.  Somewhere between the playroom and her bedroom, it was getting some type of refreshment.

I was getting used to him (or her) and had just about decided to name him after spending a day with him at my desk.  I felt bad for him when he would jump from window to window and peer longingly outside at his relatives and friends, but every time I would try to open the window he would jump somewhere else.  We only had issues when he would pop up too close for comfort on my tape dispenser or stapler or scurry across the desk, his little paws and tail making scratchy noises on the papers over my desk.

Eventually, Darcy had enough of him.  She tried to capture him with a container, but he led her on a chase all over my desk with her screaming and hopping around from one foot to another.  She lost him behind my desk and armed herself with the pole to my mop where she tried to direct him toward the open door leading to our patio. 

He instead felt he had a good thing going and ran in the opposite direction of the door.  That's where he made his first mistake!  Elliot, who was roaming around the patio, came in to see what Darcy was mopping, saw the lizard running on the carpet, and chased him under my Steelers rug.  He pawed at him for some time until the lizard escaped into our closet.  Darcy finally got him out of the closet where he hopped on to a wire shopping cart out of the dog's way.  Darcy picked up the cart and put it outside where little Lizzy hopped down and scurried away, leaving us lizard free for the time being.

**I found this on a recent walk with Elliot and thought it the tail of a dinosaur that obviously roams our neighborhood.  Perhaps I've had too much lizard on my mind lately.

**This is Madison in 2009 before she got braces.

This is Madison in 2013 after she got the braces off.

Not quite the 2 1/2 years we were told it would take, but I never trusted that in the first place having spent 7 years dealing with my own teeth.

**Our neighborhood has been overrun with bunnies lately.  There is one who lives at my next door neighbor's house that Elliot likes to flush out in the evenings.  There are several running around across the street that has Elliot forgetting why he came outside in the first place.

To age or not to age

To celebrate it's 50th anniversary General Hospital producers, yes I'm still talking about GH, brought back as many old characters and actors they could find and afford to pay. It is one of the reason I began watching again several months ago. So many of my favorites passed through the doors of the renovated hospital bringing back great memories, but all I could think was, "seriously these people have aged!"

General Hospital isn't the only show that is bringing back the elderly past.  On a recent episode of the remake of the nighttime soap opera Dallas it took me a good five minutes to identify one of the characters as Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar man back in the day. Obviously the robot work done on his body didn't withstand the test of time as he is now paunchy and limping, not to mention balding. It depressed me. Steve Austin. Heath Barkley. Gone was the youth, vitality, and looks that had me girl crushing him as a teenager.  

At first I gasped and shook my head in disbelief at what time and the addition of high definition television had done, but somewhere along the line I began to realize that some of the characters were my age or slightly older. After that realization came the one that if they looked like that what must I look like? It was an awakening of sorts. While I know that I've been aging all these years, in my head I'm still that girl in my twenties. Part of that misconception comes from avoiding mirrors and not turning on lights, but mostly I've ignored it, until these shows began trotting out my past.  Now I've had to add my own aging to the horror list that includes my kids aging.

Time is passing me by.  Once I worried about finding love and fantasized that would be with Tom Selleck, who has aged fairly well, but is well, seriously old.  Now I worry about my kids not wanting my kisses and hugs.  Once I worried about acne.  Now I worry about wrinkles.  Once I worried about the girls getting enough to eat, getting enough sleep, and getting through the day uninjured.  Now I worry about them bringing home boys, driving, and leaving home.  How did things go by so quickly?  It seems like yesterday I lived in Indiana with my parents.  I was shocked when someone asked me how long I've lived in Florida and I added up the 24 years and realized I've lived here longer than I lived in Indiana.  My husband and I just celebrated our 19th year anniversary.  I feel like we just got married a few years ago.

There isn't anything I can do about it.  Time ticks away and with each second I lose a little something of my girls, my body, my life.  I suppose I could change my looks with some work if I could afford it, but after seeing some of the plastic surgery done on the actors of GH and Dallas I think I'll pass on that.  I've never been a beauty and I've never been on television so at least I don't have to look at myself today in high definition on someone's television and wonder what happened.  I'll just peer into a mirror and sigh.

Out of the mouths of my babes

Me:  "Did either one of you eat breakfast this morning?"

Darcy:  "I did."

Me:  "Right.  What?  Let me guess.  A poptart."

Darcy:  "Maybe."

Me:  "Did you eat fruit with it at least?"

Darcy:  "It was a cherry poptart so yes."

Life under construction

I haven't been posting due to unforeseen circumstances involving my mother.  She has since March 7th been in and out of hospitals and rehabs and is now once again in the hospital fighting an infection.  She is doing fairly well, as well as can be expected for a woman with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  My mother was a smoker, and despite quitting almost thirty years ago, the damage has already been done to her lungs.  She has flare-ups, usually pneumonia only this last time it was bronchitis, and she has to be treated with antibiotics and inhalers.  It is a scary way to live hoping that you don't lose the air that you so preciously need to survive.

On the anniversary of my father's death we almost lost my mother.  I can now joke about him pushing her back down from above because he has peace and quiet now, but at the time it was a daunting experience.  She had been in rehab doing quite well when she contracted pneumonia the day before she was to leave to go home.  The rehab staff wasn't so sure there was anything wrong, but all of that changed when I arrived to find her unresponsive in bed.  Suddenly it was like a scene from a medical show with the rapid response team rushing to her bedside thumping on her chest, calling out medical data, and starting IV's.  She was rushed out of the room encircled on all sides of her bed by the medical team and I was left standing in her empty room surrounded by her belongings.  The silence was haunting.

I have been preparing myself for my mother's death for some time now.  She isn't a healthy woman and the condition she has isn't going away.  There are days I have rushed to her house unable to get her on the phone.  There are days I have arrived at her house to find the lights off and the morning paper still at the door.  Those are the days where I have taken a deep breath and told myself that this might be the day she has decided to quit.  I'm as prepared then as anyone can be upon finding a dead loved one. 

That night in the ER the doctor talked to be about having to intubate her, but I wasn't really understanding him at that time.  I always think that these hospitals know that she doesn't want life support, but now I understand that they need paperwork.  My mother was coming in and out of consciousness and reality.  Her eyes were rolling around in her head quickly at times and shut more often then open.  Her blood pressure was low at 66/33.  Eventually I began to wrap my head around the things the doctor had told me and then I hunted him down and asked for another explanation.  He was kind.  "We have done all that we can for her," he told me.  "It is up to her now."  He talked again about the intubation and I told him she was a DNR and had paperwork.  That was taken off the table.  He told me to tell my brother to come to Florida.

My mother rallied.  She gripes about it at times now, but she isn't ready to die yet.  Yes, she is in pain.  Yes, her quality of life isn't good.  Yes, she is miserable most of the time.  But deep down she isn't ready to give it all up.  She has her children and her grandchildren and her Netflix.  I'm not sure what keeps her going, but I feel that when she has had enough she will stop fighting.  That night she fought when I told her she was sick, that she could either fight or not, that her son was on the way but wouldn't arrive until tomorrow.  It didn't take long after that conversation for her to start coming around.  She spent five days in ICU and five days in a regular room before moving to rehab once again.

She came home Monday night.  Friday afternoon we were calling 911 and back in the ER all over again.  One time this happened she was in and out of the hospital for months.  She had been hospital free for a little over a year and she was lucky there.  This is just the way this disease goes.  Eventually it will kill her.  I'm not ready to lose my mother, but I'm also realistic.  The doctor in the second ER said she had had a good life.  My friend Kelly, who dropped everything to sit with me for nine hours, looked at him in disbelief and said, "She's only 78 years old!".  As we get older 78 looks younger. 

Dealing with my parents I realize life is passing us all by.  I'm trying to do what's right for my mother and my children and my husband.  It isn't easy.  There are days I scream and rant.  There are days I cry.  There are days I enjoy so much I want to hold them there forever.  Finding a balance between it all is difficult.  I just try to tell myself to live and love, take it one day at a time. 

Out of the mouths of my babes

Darcy: "I'm all packed."

Me: "With everything? Even tampons and pads in case you menstruate?"

Tom: "Menstruate? What's that? I mean, is that what you call it? How you say it?"

Darcy: "Well Dad, it is something that occurs monthly that let's me know I'm not pregnant, which is a good thing. Unless you are trying to have a baby and then it wouldn't be a good thing I guess, but it is bloody and messy and frankly if you ask me I think it would be easier if Mother Nature just texted us each month."

Happy 50th General Hospital

My love for soap operas came about in the 70's when I wasn't even in double digits age-wise.  I discovered All my Children when my car pool dropped me off at home after swim team practice and my mother was not yet home.  No parental supervision meant turning on the television and at noon there wasn't much selection to chose from the four channels we got back then.  I found myself caught up in the intrigue and the relationships for a half an hour each day.  My mother did not watch soap operas and was extremely horrified when my summer obsession grew with my age.

I was introduced to General Hospital in 1978.  I was at my friend Kelly's house and she and her sister spent considerable time explaining the characters and their backgrounds so that I could add this soap, along with One Life to Live, to my must see TV.  The storyline that day was the one in which Lesley Webber was taking the rap for a murder her daughter Laura committed.  I've been a General Hospital fan ever since.

It was the right time to be a part of General Hospital. The soap had young actors and actresses with story lines teenagers ate up, the VCR was becoming a staple in households that allowed school age kids to stay abreast, and Gloria Monty was just coming aboard as the new producer with her visions that would shake up the soap industry.  Monty's introduction of Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, played by actor Anthony Geary, saved the low rated show and set the precedent for the changes to the industry.

Never had there been a character as wild and crazy, yet sensitive and caring as Luke. Originally brought on he show as a temporary character, Geary's portrayal of Luke Spencer wormed his way into households, women's hearts, and eventually a full time contract as he skated the edge of darkness and pursued Laura Webber.  The Luke & Laura phenomenon was quick explosive and Monty took the characters out of the hospital and put them in adventures in exotic locations.  The viewers ate it up.

I remember where I was the day that Luke and Laura got married, November 17, 1981.  General Hospital came on at 2:00 pm. in my home town which was before we got out of school.  I was able to get out of my seventh period and my friend Robin and I rushed to my house to watch the episode that is still to this day the highest ranked episode for a soap opera.  That episode, watched by 30 million people, and ranked by TV Guide as one of their "100 Most Memorable TV Moments" had us reaching for tissues and then screaming at the very end when Scotty Baldwin returned to catch the bride's bouquet.  I was sitting on the ottoman when Baldwin appeared, yelling to Robin who was in the bathroom, to hurry up as the commercial had ended.  I can remember banging on the door to alert her to the fact that Baldwin had ruined the big wedding.

I loved reading serial books that kept telling the adventures of the characters and a soap opera was just like that.  While I gave up on the other two ABC soaps I stayed true to GH and have watched it off and on over the past 30+ years.  I have gotten annoyed during periods and quit watching for months, but as the Internet age evolved I would stay tuned in by reading the episode recaps and or by having my friends fill me in.

This past year soap operas have been cancelled due to low ratings and advertising and the thought that GH wouldn't be around much longer had me tuning back in and jumping on the bandwagon to save it.  Changes were made at the helm and the new crew has done a terrific job in celebrating GH's fifty years on the air, bringing back so many favorites from my youth.  Now both my children have joined me in watching the show.  Despite my mother's horror at that, I would love for GH to continue another fifty years for them to enjoy, make fun of, and remember time spent with their old mother watching the soaps.

Happy 50th General Hospital!  

My favorite couple - That would be hard to narrow down as GH was the master with the supercouple.  Luke and Laura, of course, are the first and if I had to pick one I would choose them.  But after I would say Robert and Anna and Frisco and Felicia.

My favorite character - Robert Scorpio played by Tristan Rogers, although Anthony Geary is right there as well.  These two actors do the best job of impromptu, off script, acting that is just fun to watch.

My favorite heart wrenching storyline - Would have to be hands down the death of Barbara Jean Jones in a bus accident while her cousin is dying and needing a heart transplant in the same hospital.  The moment Felicia learns that her daughter's heart is coming from her niece....stunning.  When BJ's father Tony hears his daughter's heart beating inside his niece's body....stunning.  

My favorite switching of supercouples - Holly and Robert.  When Anthony Geary was paired with Emma Samms I was not a fan.  Then Geary left the soap for awhile and the writers had Samms' character Holly paired with Roger's Robert.  The storyline was believable and the chemistry was fabulous.  Then there was the excitement when Luke returned to find that his woman was married and in love with his best friend.

My favorite public service storyline - All the soaps climbed on board with doing stories that were relevant to the day's headlines.  The AIDS story with Robin Scorpio and Stone Cates was done so well by the GH writers and showed that the virus wasn't always a death sentence as Robin Scorpio has lived for the past eighteen years with the virus.

My favorite fun scenes - The Nurses Ball were some of the most fun, and I'm thrilled that they have brought it back this year.  I also loved Ned Quartermaine as Eddy Maine.

My least favorite supercouple - Anna and Duke.  I was never a Duke Lavery fan.  Anna belongs with Robert.

My least favorite reason why a character left - I hated the way they made Frisco, and eventually Felicia, leave.  Neither character would have ever left their children no matter what.

My idea that would have been better had the writers known about it - I always wanted to have Sonny and Jason working secretly undercover for either the police or the WSB in the mob.  Think how poetic it would have been when Sonny and Brenda had their double cross storyline to have it come out that Sonny was actually an agent?