I have mixed emotions about daylight savings time. On one hand, it means spring is just around the bend and the sun won't be setting at 4:30. On the other hand, the lost hour really sucks when your busy season weekend is only 36 hours to start with. Boo.
This year, Cleveland put some salve on the wound of the stolen hour by providing a 60 degree day with blue skies and sunshine. Everyone was outside soaking in the long awaited vitamin D nourishment in whatever way struck their fancy. I elected to head south to the Brecksville Reservation and get my hike on.
For those of you unfamiliar with Cleveland or those that are unaware a great perk of Northeastern Ohio living - I am surrounded by the "emerald necklace", which is the Cleveland Metroparks network of parks that encircles the city of Cleveland. Dirt paths, paved paths, bike routes, horseback riding trails, creeks, rivers, hills, valleys, grass fields, so on and so forth. Whatever a person is in the mood for in order to "get her nature fill", there is a park for that.
After my hour hike, which was accompanied by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in the ear buds (don't ask, I'm reconnecting with my high school self), I headed to Target to grab a few necessities. Like all Target trips, these necessities morphed into a basketful of impulse purchases. It truly isn't my fault this time because no one told me that CBS TV has each season of I Love Lucy on DVD. I had always been tempted by the full series in a box set that cost an arm and a leg, but each time the desire to buy it swelled up, I would quickly quash it. However, this time there was no need to "be reasonable" because with each individual season on sale, I only had to buy a couple to get a fix! Seasons one and two ended up in my basket before I even knew it.
As I sat on my couch eating an early dinner and legitimately laughing out loud by myself to Lucille Ball's antics, I decided these DVDs are to be free from buyer's remorse/guilt. She was a genius. Growing up, my favorite part of each summer was Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer marathons. Did anyone else watch this? Or was I, at age 7, already foreshadowing my future obsession with all things vintage and classic? I Love Lucy Tuesdays were my absolute favorite. As I watch these episodes now, I am transported back to when the sticky July night air would set in, the lightening bugs would come out and my Mom would make us kids come in from playing for dinner. We would eat around our glass top table on our screened in porch so that my parents could get their share of the summer night after long days at work. Afterwards, I would take a bath, put on my pajamas, and while my family watched more grown-up (read: boring) sitcoms downstairs I would curl up in my parents' bed to watch Lucy. Sometimes my Mom would come up to check on me and we would watch together. She loved Lucille Ball as a little girl, too.
 |
| Source: buzzfeed.com via life.com |
I realize now that, as a child, it was lost on me what a female trailblazer Lucille Ball was in 1950's. For goodness sakes, she was a producer on a show that, since premiering in 1951, has NEVER gone off the air. Think about that for a second - for the past 62 years some television station somewhere has I Love Lucy in the line up. She is, posthumously, still kicking business butt in a game people didn't think women had a place in when she joined. She was classy, yet willing to get her hands (and feet... in grapes...) dirty to get the laugh. She was beautiful, yet wasn't afraid to compromise that beauty by scrunching up her face awkwardly to portray her signature quirkiness (quirky!). Did you know she was a model and was one of the final girls in the running to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind? She embodied everything I strive to be, yet she had to do it when women weren't supposed to strive for such things. That is why, ever since those Block Party Summer marathons, I have considered Lucille Ball an idol. Both in business and in character.
I'm going to go back to my I Love Lucy now. How did you enjoy your Sunday? What transports you back to age 7?
No comments:
Post a Comment