Tonight’s Dish

In the 1970′s, we ended weeknights around 10 p.m. by watching the Johnny Carson Show, MASH, or other network programming which brought conversation and guest stars or story lines from studios in California and New York into our living rooms–rooms which usually had a slime green lava lamp percolating on an end table (next to the plastic covered, flower-powered sofa) and TV trays scattered in front of us, bowed down with opaque Tupperware tumblers filled with Tab and floating ice cubes.  You might also find an empty tin tray from a Banquet frozen dinner of meatloaf, corn, and mashed potatoes, a mood ring,  and a magic “8″ ball on mine.  By that time of night, I had already tuned in to see what Marsha was wearing and drooled over David Cassidy from the Partridge Family.

Our dog, Dawg, a fawn colored sheltie collie mix, would be curled up on the floor while I  finished doing my homework when the commercials came on.  If there was a television special or a big game on at the same time, then I would stop being me and start being my father’s remote control.  His feet would be propped up on the ottoman (that’s what we always called it) and he would hit me up to unlace his shoes, take off his socks, and rub his feet–or clean out his toes if I was lucky.   My mom would be in her nightgown, sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a cup of coffee and a good book.  If Dawg jumped up and went into the kitchen, then Mom was slipping her some treats or treating her to leftovers.  Either way, they both couldn’t be happier.  Sometimes the treats were ours when she would pop us some popcorn on the stove top.   My brother was a year younger than I and he would watch with us for a little bit and then go off to race his Hot Wheels on the orange tracks and loops that he pinned together with flat, red plastic thingies.

Now that Honey Boo-Boo and (un)reality TV has taken over, my new final destination each evening is Facebook.   It is fluid:   I can find decorating ideas, engage people in “conversation”, and read about interesting tidbits, recipes, current events, and new ideas.   With Facebook, I don’t have to endure commercials for erectile dysfunction and periods or suffer through wet, sloppy soft porn scenarios or extreme violence.    American family life and family values are mixed, matched, and shredded on television which left me searching for other outlets that are more in line with who I am and aspire to be. 

On the Internet or Facebook I can learn about sharks and asteroids and book reviews and bee keeping and philosophy and making a skirt and traditions in foreign countries and what other people think and  skydiving and knitting and history and humor and community events and collecting marbles and religion and making a salad dressing and business strategy and yoga positions and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!   Do you see the problem?  

Of course I have rituals.  On Facebook, Words With Friends must be checked and then I move on to my home page to post a comment and see if I’ve gotten any reaction or shares from previous posts.  The news feed is where I end up losing hours (and sleep) looking at landscape and wildlife pictures or jokes and funnies posted by others.

Here’s tonight’s dish:  I saved a slew of random pictures in a file called, “Things I Grew up With” …..because why?  Because I can.

 Now, if I can just find that picture of Speed Racer…