SOME SO LONGS AND FAREWELLS

Gentle Readers,

I already wrote to you last week about how much I enjoyed the season finale of Raising Hope. Since then I've watched the season endings of my other favorite shows, and I even watched the farewell of a show that didn't interest me for 24 3/4 years.

First, second season ending of Glee: Glee is not as good as it was in season one. It lost its edge. It's not as funny. I'm not sure if the creators and writers used up their best ideas during the first season, like Quinn telling Finn she got pregnant in the hot tub and Terri Shuester's fake pregnancy, or if it was so over the top hilarious that some people didn't get it and the producers decided to go a little more mainstream for the second season. Because of that loss, there wasn't as much for Sue Sylvester to sink her fangs into. But I still love, love, love the music, and the show is fun. I found the season finale a huge letdown, but I'll be back for season three.

House has finished its seventh season. House lost its edge a long time ago when House had the competition to replace his team and hired Thirteen and Taub and Kutner, who ended up committing suicide because he knew the show was going downhill because he worked on President Obama's campaign and took a post in the administration. I used to love the chemistry between Cameron and Chase, which certainly could not be replaced by House and Cuddy's fauxmance (I think I just invented a new word). Why do I keep watching? House still has its moments, and I adore a good, gross medical mystery.

Then there's The Office. As far as I'm concerned, this show pretty much ended when Steve Carell left. I enjoyed the way Michael Scott's character developed over the years. He wasn't nearly as obnoxious at the end as he was at the beginning, yet he was still funny. Static characters are a bore, just as stasis is in general. I'll watch next fall because I want to know who the new manager will be.

You may sense a pattern here: Once I commit to a show, I usually continue to watch until it ends for good.

Now, a show I avoided like the plague for 24 3/4 years. Obviously, it's Oprah. I watched her final show, and it actually made me wish I had watched a long time ago because I think I learned something. For the most part, Oprah spent her final show talking about why she did the show and what she learned and hoped her viewers had learned. She said, and I paraphrase here, that we all make bad decisions in life and then we go around blaming everyone except ourselves instead of making changes. Lawdy, Lawdy, Miss Oprah, I do believe you hit my nail right on the head. It's taken almost two years of living alone for me to realize that I made bad decisions in my marriage and then thought I was just as trapped as I was as a child in my parents' home. I should have made changes long, long ago. Both my husband and I blamed each other for our unhappiness. I am lonely, but I was lonely when I was married. I'm definitely better off now, but I don't like the thought of growing old alone.

Oprah also said we all have a calling, and we need to go after it. I thought teaching was my calling, but I'm questioning it because of the loss of my teaching job. Did I lose the job because I'm not a good teacher or did I lose the job because it would be a learning experience? I'm confused and not sure what the answer is. I have to think and ponder and pray and decide if teaching really is my calling; if it is, then I'm not going to let one bad principal get in my way.

I'm not sure where I'm going, but I'm definitely headed somewhere. For now, though, I must stop writing because one of the dogs has such terrible gas that I simply must get out of this room and get some fresh air. Dog gas is the worst.

But I loves me my doggie men.

Infinities of love,

Lola