Wordless Wednesday

It's A Little Scary...Even Now

The Colonel and I are currently watching episodes of Dark Shadows on Netflix Instant Watch. We are hooked.

Dark Shadows ran on ABC from June 1966 to April 1971. There were 1,225 episodes made for the Gothic soap opera.

The soap opera was on every week day at 3:00 PM.

I remember my sisters and I coming home from school (I was almost five years old when the show first aired) and watching Dark Shadows. The next day at school, all the kids would talk about what was happening at Collinwood in Collinsport.

"Don't come crying to me when you can't sleep because Dark Shadows has given you nightmares", our mom would say to us.

The soap opera was scary, especially for elementary school-aged children. I jumped in bed with one of my siblings on more than one occasion because I was frightened.

Watching the soap opera now, I see that my young mind did not grasp all of the intricacies and nuances of the show. It is somewhat campy and I can see why it has an intense cult following now.

The actors on the soap had rigorous schedules. The scenes of the daily, half-hour shows were usually taped in just one take. Imagine trying to memorize your new lines on a daily basis and having to do them in one take. Many mistakes were made.

The Colonel and I like watch to see when the errors take place. Many of the actors often look to the side at cue cards as they are delivering their lines. It is also fun to see the microphone boom enter the shot. I have seen the stagehands wandering onto the back of the sets and a fly land on Barnabas Collins' face.

Despite the mistakes, the soap opera is fun to watch and it sucks (no pun intended) you in. The Colonel and I watch a few episodes each night to see what will happen next (we have forgotten some of it, but it is amazing how much we do remember, in spite of how young we were when we first watched the soap opera).

I haven't had any nightmares from watching Dark Shadows...but it sure is comforting, knowing The Colonel is only an arm's length away from me when I am asleep at night.

The Long and Winding Road(s)

I know, I have been missing in action for a little while. I have been very busy lately.

The Colonel and I have been on the road...many different roads.

We've been away from home most of this month.

Our travelling schedule looked like this:

Four days into August we drove three hours to Darling-Sister-In-Law's (DSIL) house in order to spend the night before heading another three hours the next morning to pick Spud up from summer school at the University of North Florida (UNF).

We picked Spud and his things up and drove three hours again to DSIL's house to drop Spud's school things off before continuing another three hours to our house.

The next day we had to pack Yam's college items in the truck and hit the road again, this time only a one hour drive. Yam had to move in early to start her Resident Assistant (R.A.) training. After helping Yam move in and saying our goodbyes we got on the road to home.

Three days after dropping Yam off we were on the road again.

We drove once again to DSIL's house to drop off the rest of Spud's college things before continuing to the Jacksonville area to spend the night at a hotel because we had to drop Spud off for Naval ROTC camp at Jacksonville University (J.U.) early the next morning and did not want to make the three hour drive at the crack of dawn. Spud would be at camp for one week.

While Spud was at camp, The Colonel and I would be in Savannah, Georgia and the surrounding area on a little vacation; an early, 25th anniversary gift to one another (blogs to follow...got to get my thoughts and pictures in order).

Our time in Savannah went by too fast and it was time to pick Spud up from camp at J.U.

We picked Spud up and drove to DSIL's house again for a quick stop to collect all of Spud's college things before hitting the road again. He had to be back at J.U. at 6:30 AM the next day for an ROTC function and then be at UNF to move into his dorm later that same day. The vehicle was so packed that The Colonel and I had to leave our suitcases and items we picked up in Savannah at DSIL's house.

We made the three hour drive again to Jacksonville and got a room for the night.

Spud did his ROTC thing (blog about that later) and we moved him into his room (another blog later). We said our goodbyes.

Once again we made the three hour drive to DSIL's house for a quick stop. We picked up our suitcases and Savannah booty and hit the road once more for the three hour drive back home.

The final miles and hours of our travelling brought us to the exit for the road to becoming Empty-Nesters. We got off on that exit ramp.

Empty-Nesters!

I don't know whether to cheer or cry (I'm sure I will do a little of both).

I guess we've been heading towards that exit ever since the day Yam and Spud were born, it just seems to have come along so quickly.

The Colonel and I are already experiencing some of the little changes that being Empty-Nesters brings. We did not set our alarm clocks and were able to sleep in today. There was no getting up early to say, "Have a good day at school" as Spud left for the school bus. That was nice.

Cooking for two is another thing I will have to get used to (again). It will not be difficult, I will just have to have the discipline and desire to make myself cook dinner and not turn to quick and easy meals just because there are the two of us now. I will have to adjust all of my recipes.

Another part of being Empty-Nesters that The Colonel and I are looking forward to is being able to take little day-trips and not feeling the need to cut them short in order to be home before the kids get off the school bus.

I will miss having my kids around and I am sure I will worry about them, but I won't let that consume me.

The Colonel and I are now "on the road" to a new chapter of our lives.