40th Anniversary of Sesame Street

Anyone who watches news programs or uses Google knows that this week is the 40th anniversary of the first airing of Sesame Street. I have a soft spot for the show; I am part of the generation that was the original target audience for the show. My family lived in NY when I was in elementary school, so the set of the show resembles the neighborhoods I grew up in. Watching Sesame Street is about as close as I get to reminiscing about childhood.

All the talk about Sesame Street and Muppets this week made me think about the only celebrity death that has ever made me cry. When Jim Henson died in 1990, I had only been married for about a year and I'm sure that ABM thought that I had flipped my lid because I bawled my eyes out. When CBS aired a tribute to Jim Henson several months later using Muppets, I cried all over again.

Why did I feel such a connection to Henson? It was mainly because of this song:




Even as a little kid (I think I was five when I first heard it), this song made me cry. I immediately understood that the song was telling me that it was OK to be different. Being shy and quiet didn't mean that I was less important. The song was by Joe Raposo and it has been recorded by many different artists, but no other celebrity has made quite an impression on me as Henson did singing that song in the voice of Kermit the Frog. It makes me wonder what my kids will look back on as influential when they are my age.

Best Movie Reconciliation Scene Ever

I watched Tyce D'Orio's sad little choreography to this song on So You Think You Can Dance, and it made me seek out the original scene from the movie on YouTube. I have yet to see a movie scene about redemption and reconciliation that tops this one. The way the father's arms slowly wrap around the daughter -- you can just see him working out years and years of grudges in that movement. I'm also a big fan of a triumphant entrance, and this is a great one.

When Do I Get to Be the Mom?

I thought that I had worked out my irritation with the MIL, but this weekend I feel like I am about to blow my stack. The incidents that are bothering me are minor, but having them all happen in the space of a week has caused a "straw-camel-broken back" situation.

--On Halloween, I wanted to give the kids a little independence by having them trick-or-treat without me. My oldest kid is 16 and our subdivision is pretty safe, so ABM and I didn't have a problem with it. However, as soon as the MIL hears that they are going out alone, she decides that it would be fun to go trick-or-treating with them. This may be the last year that they do this, so why couldn't she let them do it on their own?

--I've been teaching the kids to perform tasks like cooking dinner and doing their own laundry because ABM and I can't do it all with full-time jobs. C2 and DJ in particular are enthusiastic about learning to cook. Yesterday, C2 was preparing a meal that she had cooked a few times before, so I went upstairs and left her to it. The MIL sees her cooking on her own and comments, "I bet your mama is gonna sit on her fat butt and let you cook all by yourself." I politely told her that the kids need to learn how to cook, but clearly she thought I was being a slave driver.

--The kids only get to watch TV and play video games on the weekends. DJ excitedly finished his chores today, only to find that he couldn't switch the TV to game mode because the MIL had switched remotes with us. She thought she was helping because our remote doesn't have a battery cover. However, her TV is a slightly older model than ours so her remote doesn't have a button to switch video inputs. So my Saturday plans have been derailed because I am trying to find another way to give DJ the video game time that he earned.

--She continues to give my kids orders that countermand mine, such as they MUST wear undershirts. ABM says to throw her a bone, but I refuse to enforce rules that I didn't make and that don't make any sense to me.

I am struggling to remember that the MIL lives alone and unlike her siblings, she doesn't have tons of children and grandchildren. We are pretty much it, and under all her complaining and gruffness beats a heart that wants the best for us. However, the way she undermines my authority with the kids shakes up my already fragile identity as a mom.

One of My Favorite Quotes from "Bones"

"We don't get anything out here. We are about 100 miles past where Jesus lost his sandals."

Music Monday: National Anthem by the cast of Glee

I am a fan of the show Glee so my opinion is admittedly biased. However, I think that the cast's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the World Series was one of the purest ones I've heard. In past years, many artists have tried to prove their vocal chops by singing the song with all kinds of vocal acrobatics. This clean and simple version performance made me think about the meaning of the words and what Francis Scott Key must have felt that inspired him to write the poem that became our national anthem.