As The World Turns

When I was a tyke I spent quite a bit of time at my grandparents' house on the north side of Ft. Worth (looking back on it I guess it was el barrio but I was from a suburb so I didn't know any different). You see...

Both of my parents worked full-time jobs and on their way to work they would drop my sister and me (and then when my brother came along him too) off with my grandparents. Oh don't worry. They stopped the car so that we didn't have to do a tuck 'n roll.

When it was time to start school we were enrolled at a parochial school that was not far from them so that we could stay at their house after school until our parents could get us.

I loved my grandparents but my grandmother had this odd thing about television. You see...

She wouldn't turn on the television during the day while we were there unless it was time to watch the noon news, followed by Bobbie Wygant (the entertainment reporter on the NBC affiliate) who always ended her spot with "bye-bye!" It was then time to switch to the CBS affiliate to watch As The World Turns. I grew up with the Hughes Family and the Stewart Family. They were like family to us.

After As The World Turns was finished the television was turned off until it was time for Dark Shadows. Yes. I was a toddler watching a soap opera about vampires. When that was over the television was turned off again. On a rare occasion my grandmother might turn it back on for Dialing For Dollars.

OK. So back to As The World Turns. At one point (and this was after I had started school) my mom was working close to her parents so at lunchtime she would go over there. She started watching As The World Turns because her own parents would ignore her for thirty minutes while the show was on. My grandmother always referred to it as the show. And yes, even though my grandfather acted like he wasn't interested he could tell you every story line that was happening.

There was one character on the show named Annie. Annie was real sick. So one day back at my house we're sitting there talking about Annie being sick and my dad gets real concerned because he thought my Aunt Annie was really sick. We got a good laugh out of that because that is when we realized how the citizens of Oakdale had become a part of our life.

I don't watch As The World Turns much any more. My parents watch it religously and so does my sister. However, I can turn it on and in one episode pretty much figure out what has happened in the past year.

I had been alerted to the fact that Cyndi Lauper was bringing her True Colors Tour to Oakdale so I made it a point to watch it the other day. Cyndi did a great job on the show. And in case you missed it, I have the YouTube clips for you.

I wondered the other day what my grandparents would have thought of Nuke (Noah & Luke) kissing on the show. However, considering everything else that has happened on the show, I'm sure my grandmother would have sighed and said something in Spanish to my grandfather and left me wondering what was said.

I can definitely say, the show today ain't my grandmother's show.