Guilty Pleasure

I have a confession.

I love soap operas.

You know, those poorly acted, ridiculous storyline, moral compromising shows on during the daytime.

Yes, I love them.

Well, I love two of them in particular.

And one of those two are ending forever this Friday. It makes me sad.

I have been watching Young and the Restless and As the World Turns for as long as I can remember. Was I really watching them at age 5? I don't think so but I can't really recall a time when I haven't watched them.

As I am writing this I am trying to figure out why I love them so much? I guess once you have watched them for a while you feel like some of the characters are like family. You want to see what is going to happen next. What totally unrealistic turn the writers will take the show next. Whether the soap opera super couple will stay together this time.

For me soap operas also connect me to people and times. See my mom got me started on them in the first place. She has been watching, or in the case of As the World Turns, listening to them as long as she can remember. She tells of remembering being around the radio with her mom before they had a TV. Can you imagine?

It has always been something my mom and I shared. When I went off to college, I would tape, with a VCR, the soaps each day. I still religiously watched them. Then when I would talk to my mom on the phone and catch up on school news, we would turn our conversation to the latest happenings on the soaps. We continue to chat occasionally about it. Our theories on whether or not James Stenbeck is actually dead this time. Or will Carley and Jack just stay together already.

Soap operas also connect me to my grandparents. Many vivid memories of them include watching the soaps with them and laughing at the poor acting or how many times they can redo a storyline.

Going back to college times, when I was in Eau Claire I had a break from noon to 1 pm. I had never watched Days of Our Lives before. But something sucked me into that TV room in the student center and I went back just about every day. I didn't know anyone in that packed full TV room but we were all in the same "group". We would laugh and cry. Share theories and just get to know each other. There was a comradery of sorts. Strange I know.

On Friday, after 54 years, As the World Turns will air it's last show. I am going to miss my friends in Oakdale, IL. I will miss the farm, pond, Fairwinds, the hospital, Java, the Hughes family, the Snyders, the Walshes just to name a few. It seems silly to be so sad but there is a strange attachment to this show that just reminds me so much of my youth and my family. Looking forward to seeing how they wrap up the show for good and how they say good bye to a good run! ATWT forever! :)