Television and Other Such Memories

Anne Shirley: Would you please call me Cordelia?

Marilla: Is that your name?

Anne Shirley: No ma'am, plain, old, unromantic Anne Shirely

Ann with an "e"

~Anne of Green Gables~

One of Heather's all time favorites were the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea miniseries. She fell head over heels in love with Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. She longed for a bosom buddy like Diana Barry and a home on Prince Edward Island. Heather loved Anne's (Megan Follows) beautiful, long red hair. She always wanted to go and visit or live on P.E. Island one day. She bought the entire complete miniseries on DVD and would watch them over and over. She never tired of these movies. When the girls were younger we would watch Avonlea on the Disney Channel. It was a take off from the Anne of Avonlea series. Jenn happened across this on public television the other day. I sat and watched a few moments of it but left to go to the gym before the emotions of how much Heather loved these shows could overtake me. I think if I watched the entire series I would be in tears for hours. Heather and I would quote our favorite parts of the movies.

Television and movies have a crazy way of taking on a completely different meaning to me than to most people. When I saw Letters To Juliet...I cry at the remarkable performance of Vanessa Redgrave. She lost her daughter, Natasha Richardson. As fate would have it..Natasha died one day before Heather went into the hospital for the last time. Anyway...I cry at the part where she comes in to brush Sophie's hair. I have seen it twice and cried both times. Toy Story 3 gets me as I think of all of Heather's old toys that were looking forward to being played with by her children. For now they are safe...one day they will be played with by other children. But like Andy, I will have to find the right little girls to have these special toys. Then there is Last Song with Miley Cyrus. I cried so hard during this movie it took me 10 minutes to compose myself to leave the theater. I was not expecting that Miley played the piano..like Heather did. I also didn't expect the dad to have cancer. It completely caught me off guard.

I love the show Army Wives on Lifetime TV. Jenn, Heather and I began watching this show in June, 2007. In May, 2008 Season 2 began with Claudia Joy's daughter, Amanda, dying in an explosion. I cried and cried over the thought of this. Heather was going through treatments and it really hit too close to home. There have been episodes when it has mentioned the grief that Claudia Joy's character experiences. I have only watched one episode this season so far. I have recorded all of them since the new season began in April. I sat down the other night and began to catch up on the show when I watched the Mother's Day episode. It brought me to tears right at the beginning when Claudia Joy begins Mother's Day weekend with a visit to her daughter Amanda's grave. This was just the beginner of the tears for me in this episode.

Ann Margaret plays a visiting Aunt who's husband recently died and her son has been MIA since Vietnam. Claudia Joy and her are at a Mother's Day breakfast on base when the Aunt abruptly leaves after several families soldiers are brought home for Mother's Day. The conversation between these two women is very moving. I do believe the person that wrote this part has lost a child. They just get it...turn up the volume so you can really hear the words...This is what Mother's Day and every other holiday during the year are to me...nothing but heartache.

With the exception of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, in 2008 and 2009 I spent every holiday in the hospital. Either having awaiting test results, chemo treatments or in ICU. Think about that for a minute...every single holiday. It is really truly no real wonder why holidays are such a sad time for me.