Starting in December 2010, I began watching taped cassettes of the Northern Exposure series. These tapes were a gift to me from Linda, my sister in law. Northern Exposure was a TV series that ran in the 90's and centered around a group of people living in small town, Cicely, Alaska. This week I came to the end of the 110 episodes. I stood in my office in Anderson, Indiana with tears in my eyes as they closed out with a song from Iris Dement - Our Town - as the characters went off the air. It was a beautiful closing.
Well, I felt like a fool, getting all teary eyed over a TV show. Yet, as I stood there all verclempt, I was reminded of my childhood years. We had a certain substitute teacher - Mrs Gragg - who always brought the stories. I have no way of knowing if she was left instructions about daily lessons but as soon as we saw her, the begging began..."Tell us a story, tell us a story..." And she would. Sometimes, she'd read a story - with emphasis! And sometimes, she'd tell one from the heart. She had such a gift. My grandmother was a bit like that too. She'd tell us stories from her childhood. My siblings and cousins and I would sit and listen with total attention as she spoke of dynamite boxes, the mica mines of Mitchell county, her many sisters (5, I think) and the various endeavors she undertook in her childhood.
The television show ended. The characters still live out there in Cicely, Alaska. The actors have moved on and the story tellers have moved on too. So I took the tape out of the vcr and looked at the label. There are five episodes on the cassette - the last three and the first two. I smiled to myself as the first episode is cued up for my next visit. Thanks, Linda.
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Here it is - your moment of Zen!
