mom was right

 Today, as I was searching for something new to watch, I stumbled on the I Love Lucy show. Our family didn't watch this show. Mother was an early feminist and felt that the depiction of Lucy Ricardo was horrible. When the show was on the air, she only had one daughter, but by the time reruns were airing, she had three daughters. She said that she didn't want any of us to see this ridiculous portrayal of a ditzy, scheming, immature adult woman whose husband sometimes spanked her for her "bad" behavior.

As I grew up, it just never occurred to me to try to watch it. And well into my adult years, I just never did. I did catch a few episodes of The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy along the way, but they didn't hook me. I thought they were less offensive and that Lucy's character was more mature, but it still didn't hook me.

Mom died in 2016. Since that time, I've thought about a lot of things that she said or did. In more than one case, I've found that my perceptions of certain people, places, or things have changed. So, today, when I saw the I Love Lucy show, I decided that I owed it to myself to watch it. I managed to get about five minutes into the second episode when I realized that Mom was right. The portrayal of Lucy Ricardo is ridiculous and misogynist.

I do want to separate Lucille Ball from the show, however. She was a brilliant woman who accomplished so many things. She often discussed the many men she met throughout her career who told her she would never be successful in show business. As a woman, she was the epitome of a woman succeeding in the world despite the many men who tried to stand in her way. And in that, she and my Mom had a lot in common!

the gate

 We've known each other for FIFTY YEARS. Sometimes we're on. Sometimes we're off. He married someone else. Then I married someone else. Then I divorced. Then he divorced. Then we were together. Then he married someone else. Then he divorced. Then we were together again. Then I met someone else. Then he met someone else. Now we're together again. Obviously, we're weirdos.

This morning, as he was arriving for his third week on a new job, he said, "You should see the security gate at my new job. I'll take a picture of it to show you."

I said, "No, you will NOT take a picture of the security gate." He asked why. "Because if they have a break-in, they'll look at the surveillance tapes and see you taking a picture of the gate. Next thing you know, you're in a basement room at the police station being interrogated."

WHY WERE YOU TAKING PICTURES OF THE SECURITY GATE? DID YOU STUDY THE GATE TO SEE HOW TO GET IN? WERE YOU PART OF THE BREAK-IN? WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE STOLEN COMPUTERS? TELL US THE TRUTH!!!

"Then you'd tell them that you were just taking a picture to send to your girlfriend."

OH, SO YOU HAVE AN ACCOMPLICE!!! TELL US WHO SHE IS!

"They'd snatch your phone and see it was me. Then I'd have cops knocking on my door."

COULD YOU STEP OUTSIDE, MA'AM?

"My 11 pound chiweenie, who has never had any ability to judge when to back off, would go in for the kill. The police would open fire to try to stop her, with every shot missing because she's too quick. But then I would need to defend her, so I would grab cans of soup that I bought to eat when I run out of stuff that I actually do want to eat. I would pelt the officers with my cans of soup. I would eventually get arrested and jailed, wearing either orange, which does NOT look good on me, or horizontal black and white stripes, which don't look good on anyone except girls who wear size 00."

"Girl, you are nuts. Nobody is going to do all of that because I took a picture of the gate."

"You know the first thing they'd serve me in prison? Tomato soup. I'd tell the guards Y'ALL THINK Y'ALL ARE FUNNY and I would throw the tomato soup. Now I'm in solitary confinement wearing an unflattering jumpsuit stained with tomato soup. All because you just HAD to take that picture!"

"I swear to God, you make me laugh so hard. I will NOT take a picture of that gate."

"You certainly won't. I love you, but not enough to go to prison for you."

"I love you, too, crazy girl."