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Saturday, June 1, 2013

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...


When Richard and I were kids, my Mom (and Grandmother) were both deeply, DEEPLY into a couple of soap operas.
One of them was General Hospital.
I have clear memories of Luke and Laura getting married.
It was like an actual EVENT, the way folks carried on- you would see them on every magazine cover in town.

My Mom especially loved Days of Our Lives.
Oh Lord, the world would stop for that hour.
I can still clearly hear the stern voice intoning "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." (cue music)

First of all- "sands?" Surely it must have been Sand and the interwebz are wrong. But no, I just looked up the video and it is "sands." Is that even a word? Do you pluralize each grain of sand? I think not.

But anyway, I digress.

My Mom, in her utter brilliance, established something called "Quiet Time."
This went on for two or three HOURS in the middle part of the day in the summer.
I remember asking (repeatedly, repeatedly) WHY did we have to do Quiet Time? It was so boooooring in our rooms!
The answer was something about the sun, and the heat of the day, and so forth.

Oddly, it was exactly the time of day that the Soap Operas were on.
Very clever Mommy I had!

Even though Richard and I were to be kept separated, we couldn't bear it for very long.
You know the deal with siblings, can't live with them and can't live without them!
A short while after being deposited into our respective bedrooms with the stern edict to stay put,  the plotting would start.
One of us would sneak, ultra quietly, tippy-toeing, through the Jack-and-Jill bathroom that connected our two bedrooms together.
From there, we would play together until we were caught, for laughing or fighting or whatever.

We used to have a lot of fun together though. I clearly remember spending time playing with this old toy together:


As a teen, I watched Days of Our Lives with my Mom, and got all entwined in the drama of Bo and Hope, and Dr. Marlena Evans. I think these folks are still on the show, after having died a million and one times, only to come back to life!

I don't know if people watch Soap Operas anymore.
I don't know anyone who does, personally.
Or if they do, they sure as hell don't admit to it!

Anyway, no real point to this story at all,
I was just thinking about the passing of time with all the graduation hoopla happening this weekend
and all of the sudden, I heard that voice in my head..


2 comments:

HynesMom said...

Oh, Days of our Lives! My grandmother was sort of related to Grandma Horton - Frances Reid. She was once married to my grandmother's cousin Philip. He was an actor, too, but was an alcoholic and I guess Grandma Horton couldn't take it anymore.

At any rate, because of that connection, my grandmother would never miss Days of our Lives, either! That and The Doctors, which petered out long ago.

I continued watching in college with my friends. We called Bo and Hope Bope (long before they ever came up with Bennifer or Bradgelina). But my favorite couple was Kayla and Patch.

Oh, and that stern voice? That was Macdonald Carey, who was GrandPA Horton! Ask my husband, I am a treasure trove of useless TV trivia!

Jody said...

Love this. My grandmother used to watch her "stories". She was an Italian immigrant, and General Hospital was her favorite. We had to go outside during that time or she would yell at us in Italian. LOL!!!

Mind was All My Children. I think if we turned it on today I would be able to take off right where I left it 30 years ago. LOL!