The sun is bright. Plants are popping. There’s a pleasant breeze in the air. I feel it, and I can’t wait. I love warm weather and all things spring and summer. It’s just the way I’m wired.

I know many people who get a thrill when the pumpkin spice appears everywhere. They can’t wait to don their sweaters and boots and hats. And while I do welcome the changing seasons, nothing hits like that first burst of spring, especially after a long winter.

It’s been awhile, y’all. Life has been life-ing, and most of it has been overwhelmingly positive. As cold as it has been, Savannah is not known for its frigid temps and rough winters, so compared to many places, winter has been manageable.

What have YOU been up to?

I’ve been busy with some work projects. I’m also looking for a steadier job. I feel like this is ongoing with. me. Thankfully, I am not desperate yet, but I have one kid graduating from high school this year and another one graduating next year, so I need to secure something with a more regular paycheck. Freelance fashizzle isn’t cutting it. More on that later.

Also, I have to say that those of you who post daily amaze me. I’m truly in awe. I write in my journal most days, and I really love blogging, but turning words into something interesting and readable day in and day out is not easy. I’m going to do better, though. Writing is as much a discipline as it is simply inspiration that morphs into words. You have to show up and just do it.

So here I am.

Let’s talk television for a minute. How many of you know and watched the TV show Dallas?

I was a a tiny toddler when the show debuted in 1978, so I have zero recollection of the early years. However, by the time it was a full-on hit in the early to mid-1980s, I was very aware that Dallas was the it-show of the moment. My parents didn’t really watch it, but my grandparents sure did, and I wanted to be there for all of it. I thought Sue Ellen Ewing had the most amazing hair. Her outfits brought all the boys to yard. Those cowboys. Those cars. That ranch with a swimming pool. I wanted to live on Southfork!

My brother and I spent a lot of time at our grandparents’ house on the weekends. They lived about an hour away, but we were lucky to spend a couple of weekend nights with them every month during the school year and even more time at their house when we were out of school in the summer. Dallas came on every Friday. It was usually my cousin and me who got to stay up to watch because we were the oldest. My younger brother had to go to bed earlier. The rule was that we had to have our bath and be ready for bed before it came on.

You didn’t have to tell me twice. I was ready! I freaking LOVED that show even though I barely knew what was happening since we didn’t watch it at home because my mom thought it was trashy. My thoughts were that it couldn’t be that bad because my grandfather was a preacher, and he and my grandmother never missed an episode.

I loved everything about that hour. The intro with those trumpets and oil fields and cattle. Bobby Ewing was gorgeous and so was Pam or whoever he was dating at the time. We would settle in on the floor in front of the giant TV with all that decorative wood. Everyone would be super quiet. Occasionally, there would be a love scene or some foreshadowing leading up to one. My grandmother was on it. It was like she had a sex radar and knew exactly when to shuffle us out of the room. “Honey,” she’d call to my grandfather, “take the kids into the kitchen and get them some cookies.” Grandparents are the BEST. I would always protest and tell her I was old enough to watch it, but she’d insist that the “adult themes” were not appropriate, so off we’d go to the kitchen for snacks.

Okay. Here’s where I’m going with all of this. Fast forward to 2024. I hadn’t thought about Dallas in ages, but one day my son came home from school and said, “Hey Mom, did you ever watch that weird show from the eighties called Dallas?” Boy did I, son, and I LOVED IT! He goes to an arts school and his major is film. He had an assignment where they had to watch various intros to old shows, and lo and behold, he got Dallas. I was PUMPED! I was also recovering from knee surgery and had to spend an ungodly amount of time laid up with my leg elevated, so what better activity to pass the time than to binge on a TV hit from my youth.

Our nightly ritual became watching Dallas. I had no memory of the early years because, like I mentioned, I was a baby when the show started. Wallace, my son, was a little unnerved with how into Dallas Gil and I were. He kept reminding us that his assignment was done, and he only had to watch the intro. He pretended to not like it, but we all know the truth. He kept coming back to watch another episode.

Gil had also been exposed to Dallas as a child. The more I watched, the more I recognized things from my childhood. For instance, J.R. and Sue Ellen’s baby, John Ross Ewing, was born around the same time as my younger brother, AND his nursery had the same decor as my brother’s! Gil and I would be sitting there, and Pam would walk in and Gil would say, “Oh my gosh! My mom had that dress.” It’s crazy how much of eighties culture was shaped by one show.

I almost hate to admit this, but we watched the entire series. Fourteen seasons, over 300 episodes. That’s quite a feat for me. I am not one to sit still for long. I can barely make it through an entire movie, but boy did I show up for Dallas. And I loved it. Yes, as my mom said, it was kind of trashy. J.R. was a total asshole who I still somehow rooted for. (not proud!) The misogyny was rampant. The women were treated as side pieces and more or less ornaments. Then there was the fact that so much of it was horribly unrealistic. Why would anyone want to live in a house that wasn’t even all that big by today’s standards with their entire extended family who barely got along with each other. Crazy, right?

Towards the end of the series, our attention waned. Partly, because that is bound to happen after so many episodes, and partly because by the last few seasons, it really wasn’t that good. I suppose the writers ran out of ideas.

All in all, it was a total blast. A good activity for winter. That’s about all I have for today. I hope things are going well in your life. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are, and I hope you have a fabulous week!

What shows have you binged?