Friday, September 25, 2009

Back to Mayberry

When life gets to be too much -- usually when I'm going through a trying period of illness, surgery, and recovery -- and I find myself in a limbo where I can't get out and about or active, I find myself going back to the simple pleasure of watching The Andy Griffith Show. I have the entire DVD collection, and I like to watch them from the beginning and in consecutive seasons. It takes a week or more, depending on what else is going on.

Excy knows when he comes home and finds me stretched out on the chaise lounge watching the antics of Mayberry, Barney mugging, Andy dispensing fatherly advice to Opey, or the gang forcing down some of Aunt Bee's kerosine pickles, I'm working through a funk the best way I know how, and he walks gingerly.

There's something so comforting about going back to the small town where everyone's pressing concerns are usually harmless and often trivial, and no one is cruel or (knowingly) uncaring....where you know that sometime in those 30-minute episodes your throat will grow tight and your heart will swell, or you'll crack up at what a goob Gomer or Barney are. Cracking a smile or tearing up definitely helps one forget their own reality for awhile.

Viva Mayberry! Forever may it reign.

7 comments:

Roberta said...

OMG! and Dick Van Dyke too!!!

Kathy said...

Im sorry you're not feeling 100% :)

Good advice! I always wished I hd an extended family or small town to fall back on but you are soo right-DVD.

Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest

Cid said...

I would love "Bewitched" on DVD to ignore the world with. Happy SITS Sharefest. Great post below on life after 40.

Sandra Wilkes said...

Glad I found your blog. My old TV is Roseanne. I just love to watch it and laugh. Never get tired of it. Come visit my blog when you can.
Sandra
Mathy,Techy,Artsy Fartsy

Lorie said...

When I am down, I usually go for a really sad movie. One where I can cry uncontrollably and blame it on the story line.

I usually feel better after a good long cry.

I will have to try Mayberry next time!

Melodie said...

OH,we love Mayberry!We watch it all the time!I know exactly how you feel,I have that same longing for the Mayberry era.Thanks for stopping by and saying hi over at my blog.I am sorry about your donkey,that is so sad!

Dame Nuisance said...

I don't have a TV series that gives me the smalltown warm & fuzzies, but I do have a movie that does: Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox, Bridget Fonda, Woody Harrelson and David Ogden Stiers (probably most well-known as the pompous and insufferable Charles Emerson Winchester on M*A*S*H). I adore that movie and it cheers me up and makes me misty-eyed with wistfulness for a small town where everyone knows everyone else and they're all nuts in a funny, eccentric kind of way, and they all look out for one another. Good luck finding that anywhere these days, but I can always go to Grady, South Carolina thanks to Doc Hollywood.