Selling Soap

Today is January 25...

On this date in 1937 the radio soap opera "The Guiding Light" premiered on NBC radio.  It moved to CBS in 1952, where it remained until September of 2009.

Now I am not a soap opera aficionado.  Nor do I encourage the watching of daytime dramas.  The main reason why is that the likelihood of the plot line in 1937 being more or less the same as in 1952 or 2009 is pretty probable.  You know, the same kinds of tension and drama, the same hardships and wrecked romances, down the decades.

Judy and I were at my grandmother's one day, early in our married years.  Grandma had lived in the same house since 1928 and this would have been in the mid 1980s.  All of the near neighbors were her nephews and neices or distant cousins or related somehow to my grandfather's side of the family, excepting two other extended families who also populated the same street.  We were used to Grandma telling us that Minnie was having an operation or Ida's son was in college, or Tony was growing tomatoes this year. 

My aunt lived with my grandmother and their conversation together on that particular day had to do with the folks who lived in the neighborhood... Freddy, Phillip, Mindy, Beth, Alexandra, Reva...  Judy looked at me for "interpretation" which I was not always good at, since I did not live on that street. 

I said, "Grandma, how are we related to them?" 

And she said, "We aren't.  They are on my program..."

In other words, on her "Soap".

Ha!

Sometimes we get caught up in real life dramas, and sometimes we get caught up in pretend dramas.  And sometimes whether real or pretend, they loom large in our thoughts and conversation.  I would say that as the world turns today, you might want to consider how you are living the days of your lives and all your children, and think about the fact that whether bold or beautiful, or young and restless, you have one life to live...

Make it count for something more than selling soap!