a few quick words on the Muppets

Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the passing of Jim Henson. Anyone who knows me, knows that the Muppets have a special place in my heart. I am not sure if I have every spelled out why that is, and at the risk of repeating myself, I am going to talk briefly of why the Muppets are so important to me.

December of 1989 my father contracted Leukemia. July of 1990 my father went home to heaven. The seven or so months in between are some the most memorable and impactfull of my childhood. One memory I have is watching The Jim Henson Hour with my family in Stanford.

During the illness my dad was an out patient at Stanford Medical. He stayed in an apartment with my mom, while my brother and I lived with our Grandparents. Children weren't allowed in the apartment as it was a part of Stanford Medical and was occupied solely with their patients (kids being carriers of all kinds of germs and such). The ritual was this, Mom drives down on Friday, picks us up, drive back to Stanford, spend Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning visiting at the apartment, drive back to Auburn, got to school on Monday.

Friday nights the family would be in front of the television tuned into TGIF on ABC. Among the programs was the aforementioned Jim Henson Hour. Things were for that hour like they had always been.

With my dad's condition worsening, Saturdays were often spent with my mom and brother in town, to give dad some rest. Sundays were spent driving. One of the precious few times our family was all together and things were normal were on those Friday nights.

Jim would pass in May, my father would return to his heavenly home in June. 1990 wasn't a good year for my childhood. Three or so years back I was at Disneyland talking with a good friend of mine. I shared with him how even today watching the Muppets takes me back to being a kid. He summed it all up nicely. "Everything is right with the world when the Muppets are on TV." We then went to go watch the Muppet 4-D Movie in Disney's California Adventure Park.

The weird thing is last year at this time I found myself reflecting on the Muppets more than usual. And the same thing happened this year. The last two weeks or so, I have had Muppets on the brain. It is probably coincidence as the date May 16 wasn't really on my radar until last year.