Legacy Writing 365:259

Unless Lila is visiting or I’m working on designs for Runway Monday, dolls are generally not scattered around my house. They stay packed away. However, it happened that the other night there were three Monster High dolls in the living room as Tom, Tim, and I ate our dinner while watching The Young and the Restless, which is what we usually do on weeknights. The Monster High dolls are fun because they’re posable, so while I watched the show, I was putting them in dramatic poses as if in reaction to the storylines. It was only later that Tom said, “Are they supposed to be See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil?” It was entirely unintentional, but that’s how they ended up. Which is kind of cool since one of the show’s major romantic pairings began unraveling a few years ago thanks to a little statuette of monkeys in those same poses.

There probably wasn’t a soap opera through the decades since I was about twelve that I didn’t watch occasionally–at least enough to know the core characters and families and the names of their towns. Some I watched for years, left, and came back to. Some I saw only a few times, most likely when friends or my sister watched them. But I’ve been a Y&R viewer since its beginning, with the exception of the years I worked before there were VCRs. That’s kind of scary since the show just celebrated its 10,000th episode.

I watched Y&R sporadically when it was brand new–I think my sister was a viewer and told me who everyone was–but I wasn’t hooked until the summer that my job was being a “companion” to Tanya. Tanya was like my kid sister, but that summer we bonded and became friends while watching the poor beautician Jill Foster become a paid companion to the alcoholic, manipulative Katherine Chancellor. The soap has been on since 1974 (in fact, its first episode shares my birthday, March 26), and that relationship still exists, though it’s gone through many transitions through the years.

Tanya with me in my parents’ kitchen. She’s pregnant with her oldest daughter in this photo.

Though Tanya and I haven’t seen each other for a long time, we do touch base occasionally. No one else could ever replace my little sister in my heart. She might have been younger than me, but she taught me many things. One of the first and best of those lessons came from her reaction to some Mean Girls who were saying bad things about her. I was furious and wanted to retaliate, but Tanya shrugged it off, refusing to give them any of her attention. She showed a maturity and grace I still try to draw from all these years later in the face of hatefulness and gossip that hurts and maligns someone I love (or is directed at me). I don’t always succeed, but I do try–maybe with a little private venting to people I trust. 😉

Tanya is also a September baby, so good birthday wishes go out to her a little late. If you ever read this, Tanya, thank you for being there during my young and restless years.

Tanya shooting me on the day I graduated from college.

Here’s looking at you, kid. You’ll always be my family.

8 thoughts on “Legacy Writing 365:259”

  1. Ah, yes, those Fosters, and the Brooks girls, soon to be replaced with the Abbotts; Paul and Nicki when they were in a cult; Danny, the “rock star”, number one with a mullet. I stopped watching Y&R at least 15 years ago, although on rare occasions I’ll tune in for a few minutes if I’m home during the day. I usually watch just enough to realize that the Nicki/Jack/Victor triangle is still ongoing after nearly 30 years , and that I’m still tired of it. 🙂

    1. Victor can still sweep a woman off her feet and carry her up the stairs, or lay out a half dozen prisoners/dockworkers/thugs with a few well-aimed punches even though he’s 147 years old and has epilepsy and a heart transplant.

    1. Yep. Of course, she’s played by the fabulous Jess Walton instead of Brenda Dickson, but she’s the only character still around, since Mrs. Chancellor came later.

  2. I, too, am a YR “lifer” in spite of how frustrated I get sometimes with the insane storylines. The other day I was actually trying to remember how many times Victor has been married (not to whom but how many times). I was also realizing that Victor, Nicki, Jack, and Katherine will be retiring one of these days and I wondered who could replace these power players or would YR just fade away.
    I love that “Steve” from Days of Our Lives is now “Tucker” on YR. He’s so cute.

    As a kid, I watched The Edge of Night and The Secret Storm after school every day with my Great Aunt Maude.

    1. There’s been a big turnover in the writing staff; the new regime’s shows start airing around the second week of October, I believe. It’ll be interesting to see how things change. They’ve already slashed some actors–eep!

      It always amazed me how Peter Bergman could come from AMC and replace Terry Lester as Jack so well! Because I did love the late Terry Lester in that role.

      Also, I loved Patch when he and Kayla were falling in love on DOOL. I was happy to see him come to this show, especially as Katherine’s son. Hope he sticks around.

      I was a Days watcher for many, many years, but it all just got to be too much. I get really tired of people coming back from the dead, and Y&R didn’t used to do a lot of that, though it happens more now. (Malcolm? EYEROLL. Skye was fun, though.) I hate what they’ve done to Sharon. And I loved every actress who ever played Diane Jenkins, so that murder was infuriating.

      Apparently no matter what they do, however, I just can’t stop watching it.

      Now, let’s see; can I name Victor’s wives? Julia, Nikki (first time), Leanna, Ashley (first time), Hope, Diane (first time), Nikki (deathbed wedding), Nikki (third time), Sabrina, Ashley (second time), Diane (second time), Sharon (twice). His affairs: Eve, Lori Brooks, Jill Abbott, Ramona (one night–he was drugged via some tea, I think–same with one night with Trisha Dennison–she drugged him to get his DNA so she could claim he forced himself on her), Genevieve (a one-night-stand in Japan)–those are all I can remember. Crazy!

        1. Thanks! During one period of time when I couldn’t watch, a friend/coworker taped all the shows and every day she’d write up a summary and email it to several of us in the office. Those were so freaking fun because of her running commentary on the storylines. She’s the one who kept me abreast of things during Victor’s Hope years. (And one time, she accidentally put our manager’s name on her email distribution–oops!)

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