Shhhh. Don't Tell Anyone

There's this thing that I do that I've told very few people about. It's a little embarrassing and only one other person has ever seen me do it. It's not something for which I should feel particularly ashamed, but some people might think it's kinda lame.

I cry every time I watch The Waltons.

There. I've said it.

That TV series has been on the air for thirty five years and every time I watch it, boom. There'll always be a particularly sensitive scene that will hit me just right, and the tears just flow.

I remember the very first time I saw The Waltons. It was actually the movie called The Homecoming that had inspired the series but it had the same characters and actors. John-Boy's character was 15 years old, the father was unable to make it home for Christmas but finally did make it home at the last minute. I was about twelve years old and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I hadn't watched that show in years but this morning I was flipping around and there were two episodes on the Hallmark Channel back to back. (yes! I watch the Hallmark Channel. And Lifetime Movie Network too!)

I knew that I had a proclivity for crying during every episode but I thought I might be over that by now. Then there was a scene where the father finally let Jason apply for a music scholarship rather than work in the mill. "Oh! That was such a sweet thing to do-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Sniff!

In the next episode, John-Boy had a chance to get a short story published, but it would have trashed Miss Mamie, one of the Baldwin sisters. As he was reading the final copy of it to her, she was just crushed. But toward the end he ad-libbed the final part of the story so that her perceptions of herself could remain intact. It just made the old woman glow.

Stuff like that just kills me.

I know that show is extremely idealistic and saccharin. I know that, rather than comforting Elizabeth when her pet rabbit died, John-Boy was probably doing disgusting things in the barn. A lot.

But life is real enough as it is. Sometimes you just need a little idealism and saccharin.

Okay. I just Tivo'd The Waltons. Now I'll have two episodes of it to watch every day.

Don't you dare say a word!