Letters To Lyla

Dear Lyla,

If not already clear to you, I wanted to let you in a little secret; you come from a family with quirky tastes and sometimes seemingly odd eccentricities. I say that not to make you question the sanity of your family heritage but to give you some context for the story I am about to tell you. Every family has their share of interesting relatives; we appear to have them in abundance. I am convinced, however, that our propensity for embracing the unusual and finding solace in the ridiculous does not stem from a history of mental unbalance but from a surprising capacity for adaptation. Your people, little one, come from mostly rural areas and from a time removed from electronic gadgetry and on-demand entertainment choices. Instead your ancestors embraced the cultural fashions of the day and created playthings from everyday objects. While I did not grow up in the dark ages, although your daddy would argue that I grew up in a pop cultural black hole (he may be right), there was limited television entertainment to be had when I was younger. Television channels did not operate on a twenty four hour cycle, satellite television was a choice for the well-to-do and there were no cool apps to sync with your favorite television show. My sister and I were also limited by the choices made by the adults and I have seen every episode of Gunsmoke, HeeHaw and the Lawrence Welk show ever aired; I am sure that explains my penchant for all things pop culture now. When I was growing up we watched a few shows with some regularity but television viewing was not something we did a lot of (other than the news). We played a lot of cards and board games during the winter and during the summer we worked on the resort so television was not an ingrained part of our psyche. But for many back in those days it was a sole source of entertainment and folks would set their schedules so an episode would not be missed. This was the case with my Grandma Lyla and when we went to visit her it was understood: come hell or high water she would not miss her regularly scheduled programs. Remember earlier when I mentioned the uniqueness of the personalities in our clan? It is not that grandma watched her shows with the passion and loyalty of a true fan that makes this story somewhat interesting; it is the subject of her favorite show which may give you pause. When I was just a few years older than you are now grandma’s favorite show was the weekly WWF broadcast. You might be thinking, oh how sweet, grandma liked wild life. I can see how one might make that mistake as WWF now exclusively stands for World Wildlife Fund. However, before the copyright lawsuit dust settled, WWF used to also stand for the World Wrestling Federation. While wrestling (most specifically Greco-Roman style) has been an athletic staple for a millennium, this is not the kind of wrestling that you see at local high school and college tournaments. Back in the 80s WWF wrestling was the equivalent of a soap opera with sanctioned violence. There were colorful characters like Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker who had story lines that underwrote the matches. There were masks, costumes of every color and a loyal fan base that followed every nuance of this wildly entertaining sport. Your  Grandma Lyla was truly a dyed in the wool fan. I so vividly remember my sweet, soft-spoken, squishy to hug grandma yelling at the television. She would give the wrestlers she loved encouragement, instructions and warnings of the occasional folding chair that would be brought into the ring in an unfair fight. Grandma Lyla was so animated and determined that her hero would be victorious. The image was, and still is, jarring to see the juxtaposition between a woman who was the idyllic grandmother in every way and the senior citizen calling for wrestling blood-lust.  Memories like this are burned into my psyche and the behaviors and quirks have likely made their way into our family DNA. I am not ashamed or embarrassed by Grandma Lyla’s love for the WWF; on the contrary, I am inspired by it. You should not be alarmed little one, eclectic tastes in the human disposition are a good thing. The more varied both your experiences and the company you  keep the better equipped you are to be a compassionate and caring individual because you will not be limited by a myopic sense of the world. So go ahead little one and let the family freak flag fly, you will be in good company.

Read Full Post »