Monday, December 08, 2008

What Just Ran Thru My Mind

I always begin to see her in the distance. First a movement from the corner of my eye, a reflection from the glass within our curio cabinet and front Living room window. She's usually less packaged, but for those that DO live in the Midwest know why by now she's much more packaged. In the hibernation warmth due to Winter glaring down on us with a bitter bad breath smell-beet juice!- Our town had signed with a new salting company that mixes road salt with beet juice and another couple of ingredients and it's supposed to work, but be less $$ then the pure salt stuff.

They're also laying off many public works employees which means less snow plowing, and their hours of operation seem more established with a time slot, say that we get a Winter snow dump on a Friday evening starting around supper, you'll see them first on the streets at 6am. Unlike before-during the dubbed potential threat of a shopocalypse, we see less trucks and more icy roads. We see streets plowed but no longer along the curbs. Later and icier, less workers and budget cuts.

I see the woman coming out of the corner of my eye, more now at the 8:00pm hour, bundled on a mission. A late night neighborhood walker. I don't know her. I've never spoken to her. I've never seen her face up close. She's just been a walker. Yet I can recognize her, I'm connected to her because I know the way her figure moves. Sort of like how you know when it's your car pulling up somewhere, like in your driveway, instead of it being a "not your car" sound. They may all be a certain make, but they all have different sounds and smells.
Maybe we should take lessons from them.

As for my seeing shadow,
She's just a walker.
Consistent.
Determined.
I wonder if she's had a health scare?
She has a mid 50's walk to her.
I've grown to her schedule of walking and now it's part of my day now.
Interesting! I wish her healthy outlooks!

Charlie Brown.
Sigh.
First of all, I can't find RACE FOR YOUR LIFE CHARLIE BROWN On DVD to own, anywhere! My kids are on a Charlie Brown kick, have been for awhile now. Today it's "Be My Valentine Charlie Brown," "It's Your First Kiss Charlie Brown," and "You're In Love Charlie Brown," "Charlie Brown waaahhh waahhh something or another."

No matter the season, I could be watching these with the boys and get into a festive Charlie Brown mood. The one that reminds you of when you were in school and the teacher would roll in the TV and VCR on it's big black stand. Only it wasn't for a holiday, it was a just because day, saved for the special occasions that we as young kids loved having during our school days. I think that's when students linked teachers to being "with it." Before the need for American Doll and Louis V's, IPODS, yep, all you needed to show that you were with it was to show a Charlie Brown movie in your classroom.

So these CB flicks have great memories, but equally they bring out the frustrating emotions due to the agony that Charlie Brown has had to endure in pretty much every episode.

Lucy- BITCH!
Linus, the passive friend.
Sally the stalker.
Peppermint Patty and Marci= Dr. Hahn and Dr. Callie former O'Malley.

But the point is, poor Charlie Brown! All his failures and isolating moments felt through the entire animation.

Not only is Charlie Brown awesome because of the characters, but equally from the music! WOW! Beethoven= true tunes, true music.
Don't forget that Beethoven was deaf, just like Schroeder's love to Lucy. Lucy's completely deaf to his pining love. Well, actually she's deaf to every single character that's in her life. She's 100% deaf to the feelings of others. She's competitive but that won't stop her from pulling the football out from underneath Charlie Brown during an actual championship Football game. He's blamed for that bad play too.

The personalities of the other characters, like the little red haired girl. Or Violet yearning for Schroeder. The story of unrequited love based on the tale of the little red haired girl and Charlie Brown, or rather what type of hope is in Charlies Heart based on his feelings for the little red haired girl. He never gave up when it came to following his heart, you know that? Even at the end of the day on Valentines Day and the Valentines box is empty, he still hopes. You have his classmates selling him out in the background, calling him "Stupid Charlie Brown" for actually hoping that there'd be a Valentines Day card for him. Cue his sister, the stalker obsessed with anything in life. Going on and on about the Great Pumpkin and her loss of candy, or when she hat she cannot draw or cut out the perfect Valentines day card heart.


Peppermint Patty?
Simple.
She's one confused broad.
Simply confused.
After all, remember Thanksgiving at Chuck's house?
She's so upset that the host, Charlie Brown provided everyone that just invited themselves over, with popcorn and toast and a few other nonthanksgivingly edibles based on Peppermint Patty's world. She's the type that is never wrong either. Her actions on Thanksgiving were disgraceful! I'm glad that Marcie finally grew a backbone and told her to can it!

I mean, my boys too had popcorn and toast on Thanksgiving, because they just weren't big fans of the real deals.

Yet someday the boys will grow into the meaning of Thanksgiving based on how they got to eat Toast and Popcorn after trying one plate of the Thanksgiving meal that we prepared when they were growing up. A tradition within a tradition. That's what adds value, not the food, but the time together. Naturally at our Thanksgiving we had the side orders of farting, and burping, but only because this year it was just the five of us due to lingering cold/flu bugs.


So we allowed it.
Yes it frustrated us but we had to also remember that our young ones were pissed and sad because of missing out on going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see some family. There are many times that my children display or react similar to the many different stories that you have seen from watching Charlie Brown.

I am that voice. You know the the teacher that they don't understand? The characters in Charlie Brown not hearing the teacher like my boys not completely hearing me. Yes, again, I am that annoying nagging voice.

Then the love of the older woman. The crush on the teachers. They seek out and find their "Miss Authmart." Remember her? Linus's crush? His love? His teacher? There they are, the boys, leaving mom behind beginning in first grade.

You hope that good will prevail and Charlie Brown will become the most popular person, with a girlfriend, in the entire school-in a good way. You see these characters all longing, and feeling cupids arrow. Their drawn stories relate to us.

As for Charlie Brown?
No matter, I hate how he was treated. It so frustrates me.

Yet every time I watch these stories, even lately with my sons, I still get that hope that maybe this time Charlie Brown will get a Valentine that isn't used. Unlike the one from Violet, the day after Valentines Day. You know what I'm talking about, right? Remember when the girls arrived in their Fabulous Five pack trying to show sympathy, but there was that hidden hint of arrogance to their advertised guilt. To make up for it, they re-gift a Valentines day card. The one that Schroeder had given to Violet the day before. I'm guessing that with that particular group of girls, Violet is the one most likely to grow up and care about the world, the one that says yes to anyone because as much as she's happy to be part of the popular crowd, she still feels for the rocks of the class, and she just wants to make everyone happy. Although there have been times in her life that she has been sucked in or buried by the notorious "Fabulous Five" types.

I still hope that "they" will listen to Charlie when he's the Director. That they'll stop blaming him when they end up lost during the BIG RACE. That he'll have a Valentine in that box, that, that,......
It's like watching the show all over again, for the first time.
I still hope for him.

These have been my thoughts in the order in which they were written.
P.S. Go over to Susan's Snippets for a contest! If you win, will you share with me? Let her know you're from over here.
They look DELICIOUS!!
Goodnight!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

And every time I hope Lucy won't yank the football out from under Charlie Brown's foot, and I hope he'll get Halloween candy instead of rocks in his trick-or-treat bag.

Indomitable spirit or stupidity?

Love, AD

Moohaa said...

I think Lucy needs a swirly.

:)

I love the way you think, you're adorable.

Susan's Snippets said...

CB - I am going to make a Charlie Brown cartoon where he gets total props!!

Speaking of total props...thank you for the mention in your blog...I feel honored! The response to my contest has been great...

i better start to bake

Anonymous said...

I love this blog.....seriously. Charlie Brown is still so relevent. BTW, Race for your life is out of print. I'll keep my eyes open for ya.
I think I was Pig Pen......

Cheryl said...

You're quite the fan. I was always fond of the strip. And, felt a connection with the curly-haired girl. And I loved Snoopy and his root beers.

I don't remember the name of the elf company, but you can probably find it on goggle.

It's supposed to be in the 60's here tomorrow, then back to the 30's on Thursday. No salt trucks here!

jAMiE said...

Oh my favourite Charlie Brown is the Christmas one...isn't Christmas until i've watched that and the Grinch (not the one with Jim Carrey)...

Diane Vogel Ferri said...

You can't beat Peanuts. If your kids are into them they have good taste!

Brad said...

They had VCR's while you were in school? - Good lord I feel old.

Portia said...

Isn't it funny how, if you know their body language, you can tell who someone is from a distance, even if you don't really know them? I was behind a kid I went to high school with the other day (on the road) and even though I never knew him that well and could only see about 1% of him, I knew who it was instantly. Weird. Hay, my books came today! I'm so excited! I will definitely let you know how they go over:) Enjoy all those Charlie Brown Christmas specials!

captain corky said...

Charles Schultz was a genius and I'm glad that Charlie Brown will never go away. A very touching post.