Guiding Light ... Farewell and Thanks for the Picnics

This morning I had the television on while I was working around the house. It was kinda silly from the stand point that I had the volume muted and was enjoying the sounds of a couple of my favorite CDs. Still, the movement of people playing on game shows, the young being restless, and the noontime news accompanied my cleaning and cooking, as I listened to the rock of some favored classics. Afterwards, characters that continue to have the world turning kept me company while I cleaned up and got ready to adventure outside for a while in the afternoon.

Turning off the music and slipping into some shoes, I went to the television to darken its screen when the scene caught my attention and I was helpless to do anything but take a seat and simply watch for a bit.

It was 2pm central time on CBS and The Guiding Light was broadcasting their annual Fourth of July show – a complete hour with the Bauer family and friends and their annual picnic. Even though it has been years since I actually sat and watched this show, it still tugs my heart. This was a program from my earliest memories as a child at home with my mom. After lunch I would “nap” upon the couch as my mom enjoyed her afternoon show while folding clothes or writing letters. As I grew older, I could only see it during school breaks and summer. When I got my first VCR, it was one of the programs I would enjoy taping and watching in those evening hours after work, till time passed and my attention wavered.

Still, each year, the Bauer family Fourth of July picnic always seems to catch my eye, even as it did today.

Today was made even more nostalgic and caused heart to catch as I watched these characters interact … grilling (and burning) the infamous Bauer burgers, playing catch, living and loving as only a soap opera characters can do … many of them characters I remembered growing up with … Bauers, Spauldings, Lewis, Shanes … they were all represented, most of they by the actors and actresses who originated their portrayals.

Today was nostalgic because this is the last one. There will be no more Bauer family picnics.

CBS has cancelled its long running soap and this fall The Guiding Light will be turned off and the stories and characters will become memories to those who remember a different era.

I truly did love The Guiding Light and while some of its stories were a bit fantastic or convoluted, at their heart, the show’s stories were of family. Of faith, belief, and traditions – something that always seems to catch my attention. As the show began to wind down today, they did a series of flashbacks which were wonderful to see, yet they also ended it the way they always did. More than any other program I have ever seen, The Guiding Light was traditional in that they always broadcast a Fourth of July episode, no matter which day of the week the fourth fell on and they always, no matter who was divorcing, loving, in jail, fleeing the country, plotting a murder or takeover or planning a marriage … they ALWAYS had a picnic at the Bauer house.

And the episode always ended with one of the Bauer family members making the annual toast to this great nation and to the family and friends surrounding them.

Rick Bauer, grandson of the original Berta Bauer … the matriarch of the family that came to America to live the American dream … gave the heart stirring toast this year to life and liberty, to those who gave their lives defending this great country and the freedoms we enjoy each day. He gave thanks to God for his grandma and made me cry. Then there was the scene with Reva Shane and her daddy, Hank singing along with The Star Spangled Banner as more flashbacks were shown. It wasn’t perfect or even always in tune, but it was heartfelt and had me singing along as well.

I’m glad that I was home today and that this episode caught my attention. When it comes to the Fourth of July, we often think of the big things … of the American Revolution, of the Declaration of Independence, of the wars fought, the soldiers who have lost their lives defending the freedoms we enjoy each day … and we should, for they are the foundation … the reason for the holiday to even exist. Along with the big things, we find ourselves enjoying the little things … the family get-togethers, the fireworks, the swimming or other activities, the picnics or dinners. These are some of the freedoms this day represents and we should always remember to give thanks for them. I love the fact that this program was one that never ignored this holiday – that celebrated it each year and always remembered to give thanks for those who made it possible.

I realize it’s simply a television program. However, The Guiding Light was, and is, a show about family and life, about traditions and faith. It has been cancelled. It will be missed.

It’s interesting. Isn’t that part of the foundation – the reasoning – behind fighting all these years for the freedoms America represents?

Family

Life

Tradition

Faith

Long may they continue and never be cancelled.

Mind Numbing or Something More

We don't have a postage machine in my office.

Normally, it's no big deal. We only average 3 or 4 outgoing letters a day, usually. However there is one week a month that we not only send out an average of 20+ letters a day, but each of those letters is enclosed with a self-addressed stamped envelope. So, technically the 20+ is, actually, 40+.

Why am I telling you this?

So you will understand when every once in awhile I have the job of restocking my supply of self-addressed stamped envelopes. Every few months I spend a mindless hour, labeling and stamping 100+ envelopes. It's not my favorite job ... in fact, it's rather mind numbing. I try to do it when I'm alone in the office and I can either play some music or set my computer to view a Supernatural episode on http://www.cwtv.com/. It's not like I'm not working ... my hands are continually busy ... I simply need something to concentrate on before I fall asleep. Did I mention this is a mind numbing task.

Unfortunately, there are days when my computer speakers decide they don't want to work. Call the Winchester boys and get the holy water and rock salt shotguns, because there's an evil spirit in my speakers which decides at the most inopportune times when it thinks I don't need to listen to something.

Today was just such a day.

No speakers mean no music to while away the dreary. No speakers mean no Supernatural episode dialogue to take away the boredom. *sigh*

Wouldn't you know this would happen on the day when I need to do double the amount of return envelopes because this is the month that I have double the normal amount of letters to send out??

Have I mentioned before that me and Murphy's Law ... we are just THAT tight??

After affixing the address labels to 200 envelopes, my wrist and elbow have begun screaming with the repetitive motion and my mind has wandered from emails that I need to write, to blogs I want to start, to cards I need to send, to lists I need to make. Unfortunately, I can't stop to write these things down as that simply prolongs the amount of time I have to spend sitting here ... at my desk ... peeling a label from the printed sheet ... placing the label on the top envelope on the stack ... taking the top envelope off the stack and moving to another "completed" stack ... going back to the printed sheet ... peeling a label ... well ... you get the idea.

See what I mean about mind-numbing??

Once the labels are attached and I have spent 15 minutes frantically trying to figure out which latin exorcism will remove the evil spirit from my computer speaker system to no avail, I restack my 200 envelopes and begin applying stamps.

I open up my new rolls of .42 cent stamps and begin applying. After the first 25 envelopes, I began to actually look at these new stamps. After the next 25 envelopes, I begin to actually realize what I'm seeing when I look at these new stamps. After the next 25 stamps, I have the pattern of these new stamps going through my mind. After the next 25 stamps I have begun to fully understand the meaning of these new stamps.

Did the postal system truly create these new stamps in the vision that I was seeing them or was it just my numbed mind latching onto something? I can't tell you that, cause I'm not employed by the U.S. Postal System. What I can share with you is what I saw as I repeatedly affixed 200 stamps to 200 envelopes.

I saw a stamp with the flag of our nation flying high in the morning's first light.

I saw a stamp with the flag of our nation flying high in the bright blue of the afternoon sky.

I saw a stamp with the flag of our nation flying high in the glow of the evening's setting sun.

I saw a stamp with the flag of our nation flying high in the shine of the moon overhead during the night.

The flag of our nation ... flying high ... over and over through countless mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights as depicted on these new stamps, just as it does in life.

Each morning that we wake up, free to determine the path of our day, our nation's flag is flying high.

Each afternoon that we go about our business, free to make choices, our nation's flag is flying high.

Each evening that we return to our homes, free to decide how to spend our time, our nation's flag is flying high.

Each night that we tuck our children in their beds, free to plan their futures, our nation's flag is flying high.

Continuously flying day and night, never ceasing, it can be seen leading troops into battle, it can be seen high atop our capital buildings, it can be seen on flagpoles scattered throughout the nation in front of businesses and private homes. It is our nation's flag and it represents the continual freedoms that we, as United States citizens, so often take for granted.

June 14th is Flag Day ... the day we celebrate the flag of the United States of America as adopted by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

We see it every day in countless ways ... postage stamps, flying from a flag pole, on bumper stickers, emblems on t-shirts, emblazoned on buildings, and so on ... and sometimes we forget.

June 14th is Flag Day ... the day we need to remember ...

I pledge alligence to the flag

Of the United States of America

And to the Republic, for which it stands,

One Nation,

Under God,

Indivisible,

With liberty and justice for all.

Giving Thanks

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

I have found during the last six years that this day, almost more than the Fourth of July, means more to me in regards to American Freedom. Perhaps if I had lived during the Revolutionary War it would be different.

I lived through this day six years ago. While I was in Oklahoma and not directly involved, it affected me and those around me. My heart and soul were wrenched as I, along with the rest of the world, watched in horror. My words cannot adequately convey my feelings that ran rampant during that day and the days afterwards.

Since then I continue to give thanks for the continued safety and freedom that we are blessed with in this country and I give thanks to the men and women who actively serve our country to keep us free.