I Feel As If I'm Living "Laurel and Hardy"

As children growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, one of our favorite Saturday morning television shows (you do remember black and white TV, don't you?) was a comedy series by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They appeared in 106 films from 1919 to 1951. The slapstick comedy was hilariously funny.

Other favorites were Bugs Bunny, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Zorro, Hopalong Cassidy, Lash LaRue, Sky King, Lassie, Yosemite Sam, etc. The westerns, especially, always had a moral lesson. Good wins. Bad does not win.

When we got our first television in about 1952 we could get only two stations. One station was in a city 35 miles north of us. The other was in a larger city to the south of us. A tall pole was installed outside the living room window and an antenna placed atop the pole. Metal twiggy arms on the post were aimed at either city. Two sets of wires attached to the antenna ran down the pole and were slipped through the wooden frame of the window where they were then attached to the TV. The TV had a switch on the back. If we were watching the station from one city an and wished to watch the other, we had to change the channel AND flip the switch at the back of the TV.

Initially the TV stations broadcast only certain hours of the day, not beginning until late afternoon...about the time we returned home from school. Eventually Saturday morning was filled up with children's programming including all of the above. The good thing about television in those days was that each and every child's program had a moral, a lesson.

This past month I've been tending to a relative who has had serious surgery. We've made multiple trips to the hospital 65 miles away. We've hit the local outpatient a couple times. I've dressed surgical incisions more times than I care to count. Not being a "real nurse" I've been apprehensive at times, both to the patient's recovery rate and to my own caretaking skills. Thank God for Home Health Nurses who have been so helpful.

Yesterday we had a followup with the doc. While we were waiting in the examining room I turned to the patient (who as a child was an avid fan of Laurel and Hardy) and quoted Oliver Hardy's famous oft-quoted line, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into." And we laughed, remembering again those hilarious characters of black and white movies.

The news was good. The doctor was happy with the incisions. Things are progressing. We go back in two weeks to remove 65 staples (plus or minus). Both the patient and I were greatly encouraged, even though we have a long month ahead of us for further treatment.

God is good.
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P.S. Blog reader Cat comments that Ray Bradbury wrote a short story around Laurel and Hardy. Thanks, Cat. I had never read that, but thanks to Google I was able to find a condensed version of it here.