11/4/09

L is for Legacy

Today marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most famous streets in the world. I myself used to visit there frequently and my travels had a profound impact on my life. And what street am I talking about do you wonder? Not Main Street, that's for certain.

Sesame Street.

Sesame Street has been teaching and entertaining children for 40 years. Children that grew up with Sesame Street are now re-living it with their own children. It's become multi-generational.

I have very early memories of watching Sesame Street. Apparently I used to giggle like a crazy child when Bert and Ernie would do a routine in a fishing boat. Ernie's strategy was to call "Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!" Which of course Bert thought was ridiculous, but Ernie convinces him to try it. Pretty soon Bert is screaming at the top of his lungs and a large Muppet fish jumps in their boat and says "You called?"

But seriously, I learned more than just my ABC's from this show. I learned about love, marriage and starting a family when the characters of Luis and Maria fell in love, were married and had a child. I learned about adoption when the characters Gordon and Susan adopted a baby son named Miles. I learned about sign language from Linda and found a love of music with Bob.

These were my friends, the Muppets and the humans. Every day I could turn on my TV and they were always there. I laughed, I learned, I loved. I still do. Grover, Cookie Monster, even Big Bird all hold a special place in my heart. It's no secret I'm a huge Muppet fan.

I look forward to sharing Sesame Street with my children someday. I hope it is still around for many more years to come.

"Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong. Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song." - Sing from Sesame Street

1 comment:

simplicity said...

I loved Sesame Street too! Sadly, though it is a classic, it doesn't really compete with much of the other programming on PBS these days. And the timing is all goofy. 10am weekdays. That's like prime time to NOT be watching tv. It'd be great if it was on first thing in the morning (like 7 or 8) or lunchtime as it seemed to be when we grew up. (I remember watching it before naptime) Henry has seen it only a handful of times but seems to like it when he does. I think that Sesame Street was one of the first children's shows to actual teach diversity, life lessons in addition to the basics. And make it all fun! 40 years! WOW!