Lessons from the Housewives

I have a confession: I LOVE Desperate Housewives.

When the show debuted in 2004 on ABC and garnered good reviews, I knew that I'd watch it when it arrived on dvd. Sure enough, when season one was released a year later, I gobbled it up; I was hooked.

For those of you that don't know, it centres on four main characters: Lynette Scavo, (Felicity Huffman)a stressed out mom of four; Gabrielle Solis, (Eva Longoria Parker) a pampered and spoiled former model; Susan Meyer (Terri Hatcher), a children's book illustrator; and, Bree Van de Kamp, the ultimate domestic goddess. They are neighbours living on "Wisteria Lane" in "Fairview." Their stories intertwine as their live their lives.

Each fall, I get excited with anticipation waiting for the next season to be released. I've been known to get up very early on a Saturday morning and put on the fire and sit and watch it while drinking my coffee.

I think there's a little of each main character in every woman. Every working mom relates to Lynette's stress and guilt. A lot of people put up the fronts that Bree does, and put on a public face, always desperate to "keep up appearances". That's probably one big reason why the show is such a success. That's one of the reasons I love it, but that's not the main reason.

There's a lot of grace in the show. Friends get angry at each other; spouses struggle with the demands and stresses of marriage and raising children. Yet, there's something even deeper. There are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned.

In season four, a tornado rips through Wisteria Lane. Lynette screams in hysterics as she emerges from the destruction to see the home where her family had been hiding is now in rubble. The other women stand by her side and try to comfort her as the rescuers dig through the wreckage. Even though I was fairly convinced her family would be safe, I was momentarily panicking thinking Lynette's husband, Tom, might be dead. I cried when he was the last to be pulled out safe. Of all the couples on Wisteria Lane, they are the ones I root for most.

Sadly, one person didn't make it, Ida, a minor character. As Lynette is helping another neighbour, Mrs. McClusky, pack up Ida's stuff, she (Lynette) comes across some baseball memorabilia. She asks, "What's all this?" and is told that it was Ida's momentoes from her pro-baseball days during World War II. Lynette was shocked to hear this news. She had no idea that this lady whom she had lived nearby to had been a huge baseball star in her youth. In fact, Ida had loved the game so much, she asked that her ashes be scattered in the local baseball field. Lynette was told (words to the effect) that, "You didn't know, because you didn't ask." Lynette, feeling guilty on more than one level, decides to grant Ida her last request (which in itself is an amusing story). After they are done, Lynette remarks how it was so sad that she really didn't take the opportuntiy to know Ida while she was alive. Mrs. McClusky tells her that, "It's a lesson we need to learn every day". And it's true. So often, we take the people around us for granted, never knowing what may happen tomorrow. Life is fragile.

There's a character that is pure evil (in my opinion) and I was ecstatic when she got her just desserts. You should have heard me yelling at the tv, screaming, "SHE's EVIL INCARNATE!!" She's been upsetting me for a very long time. She's caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people. Justice, in this show, is never dealt out by the police or the legal system. It's dealt with within the family, or the participants and, somehow, it just seems fitting. There's a lot of "libertarianism" spoken.

Gabby, Susan, Bree, and Lynette have become my virtual friends.

Remembering September 11th

Seven years ago today, the world changed. No one that is old enough to remember will ever forget that day, or where they were or what they were doing.

Being three hours behind the East Coast, it was 6:30 a.m. when our alarm went off and we heard something about a "plane hitting the World Trade Centre". I thought it was a "puddle jumper" that had gone astray and immediately rolled over and went back to sleep for another hour. The alarm went off again, and this time we sat up and took notice: there had been a second plane and one had also hit the Pentagon. We flipped on the tv to see the second Tower Fall. I remember Peter Mansbridge saying, "That was 15 minutes ago." You could hear the shock and disbelief in his voice.

All of a sudden the world was a less safe place. As DH said, "Car bombs are passe." Like most Westerners, I had never heard of Al Queda or Osama Bin Laden before that day. It didn't matter that it wasn't my country that was attacked, or that I didn't know anyone that was personally affected. Somehow, you felt that it was personal and that you were violated.

I can't imagine the hate that would cause someone to do such an act; it's unfathomable. I had heard that terorists were actually "sensitive" people, but didn't understand how that could be. It wasn't until I saw the movie "Munich" that I understood a little bit about it. If you haven't seen it, it's excellent. The clincher is the final scene were Eric Bana's character, who had been doling out retribution on behalf of the Israeli athletes that were slaughtered at the 1972 Olympics, is fed up of the violence, and says to Geoffrey Rush's characher, "When does it end? When does it end?" Bana's character had been involved in bombings and killings, all in the name of vengeance. Yet, he was a good husband and adored his baby daughter. The scene is set in 1970's New York; the camera pulls back to show the World Trade Centre. The obvious answer is: it doesn't end.