This is Us... nah, for real. This is US!
For the longest time, my friend Sherri Malarkey has been imploring me to watch this show on NBC called 'This is Us.' We've been taping it on DVR for months, but we've never watched it. I pride myself on being different, atypical, so of course I wasn't eager to watch a show which EVERYONE is watching.
I tried to watch 'Scandal' but other than trying to guess Chonda's next move, I wasn't a fan. 'Walking Dead?' Nah, I'm good. 'How to Get Away with Murder.' One episode and I was gone. So on and so on. Sorry. I love 'Game of Thrones' and 'Blue Bloods' and that's it. I watch The Food Network, the Travel Channel, and PBS. That's it. I don't watch shows because everybody says they're good. (By the way, 'Atlanta' and 'Queen Sugar' are really good shows!)
On Monday mornings, my house is quiet, the dogs are peaceful, and I go through my Monday routine. I write. Lol. First, I post my article for 'Voices from the Bleachers,' then I work on my various projects. Oh, and I watch the shows I've missed on the DVR.
This past Monday morning, I watched the latest episodes of 'Blue Bloods' and 'The Chi' (another good show), but it was only nine in the morning, and my writing mojo was on break. So... I started season one of 'This is Us' and I haven't slept since.
Just kidding. I slept a little. But I've cried an awful lot. I'm not talking about cute little tears, but unabashed "ugly face, Viola Davis snot-bubble, I need to call my Mama" type tears. Because this television show hits me in places that I don't show the public. Places that only a few people know the directions to. My dark spots where I keep my saddest thoughts in a lockbox without a key. Until a television show brought everything back.
One of the characters confronts the biological father he never knew with the words "I made it without you." And I was transported through time to my biological father's deathbed, where he had just transitioned into Eternity. Tears rolled down my face like an avalanche, and I was hooked.
'This is Us' is about us. The scene where Kate watches the Steelers with her Dad's urn. Made me cry for my wife. Brother in denial about his father's impact on his life? My brother Brian. Sorry to bring personal stuff out, but this show is personal. Very fucking personal. You know why? Because this is us, raw, imperfect, human. And thank you Sherri Malarkey (I HATE YOU!), because this is therapy... much-needed therapy. I'm okay with me, and the lockbox in the dark part of my personal closet is being examined... For real.
