I am officially addicted to Grey’s Anatomy over 17 years after it first premiered on network television. I am a Grey’s late bloomer, and therefore, I missed all the viewing parties and fan clubs but I have to out myself. I have been silently sitting through nine seasons captivated by some of the most well drawn characters in TV history. I am so hooked that I slink off to my bed, at 7PM on a week night. “Mom’s going to her bedroom to relax,” I call out after dinner to my daughters. Lies! I am getting into bed with my laptop to get my Grey’s fix. I need to see if Arizona will agree to raise Mark and Callie’s baby? And how the hell did Lexie find herself again with Mark setting her up to be a step-parent? We know Lexie doesn’t want that but since she thinks with her Vee-jay-j (as told to her by her half sister Meredith Grey,) she goes back for more McSteamy. How much did I shake my head and commiserate when I saw Lexie dive back in for the oxytocin hit. Girl, been there done that.
The reason I am hooked, waking up with an emotional hangover and worrying about Miranda Baily or McDreamy’s Alzheimer’s trial each day is because the writing is just that damn good. Yes, the actors sell the words well, but let’s be honest. The plot lines are gold. Then last night, when I confessed to my daughter I would be ending my birthday in bed with the next episode, it hit me. Grey’s Anatomy is a soap opera. I thought of all my judgement and scorn on those people back in my twenties who tuned into Days of Our Lives every week day at the same time (No Netflix binging, just showing up every day on time.) Get a life, I would think. What is the appeal. Now I know. In the grind of life, and especially in Covid, living vicariously through others in the peril of human mortality grew exceptionally appealing.
In theory, I know that the characters aren’t real, but it would be fun to have community around what I experience every week. When my daughter and I were touring colleges, we were astonished how many Taylor Swift fan clubs there were. What do they talk about, I thought. Now I know. The characters in the songs painted by Swift in her writing linger, and create a relatability that adds comfort. I see you. I understand. I feel that on Grey’s Anatomy. Even though I will never perform heart surgery or take out a speeen, I suffer from emotional triggers, have to check my motives, want to be coupled or have to accept my expectations were not met. People around us die, and the characters on Grey’s at Seattle Grace have to face death all the time yet they keep loving and living. And when my daughter was in the ER for 7 hours for her seizure recently, I felt oddly at home. I see this every week, I thought. Was there a McDreamy, McSteamy or a Meredith Grey? Hardly… just harried nurses and doctors and a lot of people detoxing from drugs and alcohol, but I still had a familiarity.
Good writing is such a joy and a gift. Elevator scene cliff hangars! More please! I want to kiss every writer who made these characters come alive. I want to be a better writer from watching their adept sketching, packing in so much drama and trauma in one hour. I have 7 more seasons to go… lots more TV. Lots more spleens to save, and no longer judging myself for being a soap opera watcher.
If you are looking to do some writing:
Several of my clients this birthday called me a “pain in the ass.” In a loving way. It’s true. I get into their edges and rub them, pushing them to put on the page what they came to me to say. But this birthday, I was a hardly tough. I was sad. Birthdays are great opportunities to see what we are holding on to emotionally. Some birthdays have been all about the celebration, food and dancing. This year, it was about being okay in a under belly of sadness that I couldn’t define. I had to just sit in it. As I started to write without a game plan, or a misstep to call myself on, I could understand what one of my clients calls the “feminine darkness.” That dark space where we may not see, but we are willing to sit here for a while. I was able to see this birthday that I wanted to stop wishing for certain people to stay who leave, but ultimately to honor that most of the year, I stayed by my side emotionally. Perhaps I am feeling some reverence to my own self of strength. It’s okay if you cry on a birthday, or eat too many tacos, or want to feel bad about the people who didn’t take you to lunch. Write about it. From my experience I know, it will be always different the next year.
What I wish someone would create:
A better utilization of the pumps on the body creme bottles. It irks me that the designers of these bottles have to know at some point people get tired of trying to balance the bottle upside down on its tedious little head to get the creme to slide to the top and consumers are going to have to just go out and buy more. I am trying to calculate the profit ratio of how much faster people buy again with the pump versus the squeeze bottle. But just to spite them, I get every last drop from that a pump bottle if I have to twist the top off every time and apply the creme from the stick onto my body. Oh how I hate them so.
Technology Tip:
Reviewing a podcast on iTunes can leave you feeling as frustrated as when the cling wrap adheres to itself and you can never find its starting point again. It’s very simple. Do it in the App on your phone and stop trying to do it on a desk top. It’s ridiculous to try and figure out. When you initially find the show in your app, it takes you to an episode. You can’t leave a review on an episode. You have to click the three dots and go to Go to Show. This shows you all the episodes. Scroll down and at the bottom it says Leave a review. Walla! So easy.
Shameless Plug: Share my newsletter. I love writing it and making people laugh and relate. I don’t write the newsletter as a lead magnet (although occasionally I will share a class I am opening or book being published, including mine). I write it because it is a life blood for me. I have to write what is in my head down on paper, and I am a long time writer so it comes out pretty good, I think. If you agree, share it.