Our Town

Wonderful earth & "The Wonder Years"

This summer, my family is re-watching "The Wonder Years" in its entirety. We're only on season 3, but I've cried or come close to it plenty of times. There was the episode where Mr. and Mrs. Arnold are fighting over pottery and Pepsi. There was the one where Karen runs away, but comes back home. This week we watched the one where Kevin wants to play tackle football and his mom just wants to keep him safe; she has to let him go and grow up, of course.

Another that had my eyes watering up was the one where Winnie stars in the school play and Kevin mans the spotlight. The play is Our Town, and maybe I missed the boat in high school English, but I've never read or seen it. My rough understanding is it's about a dead girl who comes back to earth for one last look at the life and people she left behind. When Winnie delivered Thornton Wilder's poetic lines and a tear slid down Kevin's cheek, I was a goner.

"Goodbye, Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Goodbye to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths... and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?" _Thornton Wilder, Our Town