Bewitched!

It is finally summer, and the sun has replaced the teeming rain.

We moved into a “suburban” house. It has everything but the swimming pool, and the billiard room. Sometimes I am blinded by the surreality of it all!  I spent my adult years wishing that somewhere some way I would meet the man of my dreams and have a shot at the good life beside a beautiful man in a beautiful house surrounded by love and beauty.

I spent my teen years wishing that I could live in one of those houses with a perfect lawn, a boat in the yard and swimming pool. All of the kids who’s fathers worked at IBM had the entire frozen food section in their freezers. We kids of single mothers and hippie parents weren’t so envious of the “perfect” nuclear family, but the food in their fridges. We never got Teevee dinners and ice cream WITH CONES in our houses.

Now, a mother myself, I find myself in these situations where I am so much closer to the parents with their shit together than I ever thought I would be, and um… Suddenly I live in (what one of my hippie friends called) an “adult house.” and sometimes I can be found in the front yard playing badminton or tending the garden. My honey and I are often arguing over who gets to mow the lawn; the result of growing up wishing for a suburban lawn to mow.

A funny thing happened to me the other day. My honey had a friend Lewis come in from out of town. Lewis arrived several hours before he got off work, so I was the entertainer; and that sparked an epiphany.

I picked Lewis up at the bus, and we drove to town. We had met once and had a couple of drinks a year or two ago, and though we really didn’t know eachother, it was an easy ride. I offered him the opportunity to take a bike and ride about town, do his thing, or hang with me. I was planning to lay beside a stream and have a swim. He opted for the time by the stream. We sat and talked about things that I almost felt guilty about discussing, because I was asking questions I knew my honey would want to hear the answers to. I was having a conversation that i would have to have later. Or perhaps Lewis might later be too annoyed to repeat the conversation, after having already had it with me. We sat comfortably and conversed for about three hours and then I went to pick up my honey.  It was their turn to hang.

After stopping at the grocery store to buy some food, coming home to prep, grill and serve a beautiful gourmet dinner, I settled in for desert and some time under the stars. The guys went out to the bar and had a drink.

It was a rather satisfying day. When my honey climbed into bed after two a.m. It became a rather satisfying night.

In the morning, I was chatting with my girl, like I do every day, and she says, Ugh, sounds like a bit of a bore… entertaining the friend…

I thought, ya know… not so bad. Not bad at all actually. I love to do things for my sweetie, and it comes rather naturally. Surprisingly naturally actually. I would entertain my sweetie’s friends while we waited for him to return any day. If nothing else, we share the commonality of loving the same person…

I love supporting my man. It is new to me, this partner thing. I have never had the opportunity to stand side by side with someone so absolutely supportive, and even in all of my selfishness, I am noticing that I am not so bad at this!

And then the epiphany struck.

All of the years of watching “Bewitched” have paid off. And THAT, was where I honed my skills. I know how to entertain the Boss. And rather well I might add!

Samantha Stevens was not just a witch who could twinkle her nose and make shit happen, but she was a great housewife,  never afraid of using her magical witchcraft to whip up a magnificent dinner, or make the problems  of the moment disappear. But she had this one skill that was rather amazing. Even with all of her powers, she had an impeccable ability of letting her husband feel like the king of his castle. And entertaining the Boss and his wife?  She could charm the pants off of anyone!!!

I think I learned some tricks from her. There is something strange about realizing how American Media has shaped us.