Is This Show Made for Adults?
Shane and I have been watching The Wonder Years on DVD. For those uninitiated (or forgetful), this is the eighties sit-com about a 13-year-old boy growing up in the late 1960’s. The series is funny and touching, sometimes in a very profound way.
After a particularly deep and touching episode where Kevin fights his mother for his independence, I sat sobbing on the couch next to Shane. He looked at me knowingly, and leaned in for a hug.
“Is this show made for adults?” Shane asked. “Because it seems like some of this stuff is just for adults.”
I laughed, tears still streaming down my face. “Well,” I said. “I was 25 years younger when I saw it before and I didn’t have any kids. So I always related to Kevin. But now I can relate to the mom, too. So I guess it’s for all ages.”
On TV, as the credits rolled, Joni Mitchell was singing The Circle Game:
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time….
I’d heard that song recently – and I remembered well where I’d heard it.
So I told Shane. “I heard this song a few months ago. My dad and I were at a funeral. They played that song and everybody was crying. My dad told me that he’d never heard it before but I remembered this show. I said, ‘Yes you have! It was on The Wonder Years!”
Shane processed that for a moment.
Then he said, “At my funeral, I want to play all happy songs so no one is sad.”