Oh many thanks, Ruth.

Wow how absolutely fascination – happy to hear it resonated and that though I have issues, I’m not alone. 🙂

Yeah, it’s not even the commercialism – that’s been commented on for decades. It’s that it’s a tough emotional holiday for so many that it’s hard to get through just TWO WEEKS of it. It gets dangerous when this gets extended into four months – that’s just torturous agony of worrying about getting through months of depression. It’s a serious issue.

Oh by the way, those hallmark movies are playing instead of our morning Monk and Murder She Wrote episodes…we don’t love it one bit.

Thanks, Michele. You know, it’s crazy, I ALMOST DIDN’T finish writing this one because I thought it was too fluffy, too pointless, not really an interesting or important topic. Turns out, this is the one that resonated with so many people or at least kept them interested, made them compelled to comment, made them smile. As I wrote it I kept thinking about so and so here in town, a friend or two, who had MUCH better stories than I did…. but it doesn’t matter, THEY didn’t write about it and they didn’t have my take, my spin. A great learning lesson about pushing through and not editing yourself too quickly.

And nah, I won’t be tracking down Mr. Cruise anytime soon to show any love either. Loony tunes, that one.

Then the whole catering thing. We did parties for everyone and openings and movie premieres. The entire cast of Love Boat, all their parties. Snorted coke with Lauren Tewes at her party at her house. Did after party weed and movie watching with Sally Struthers. She was always so nice. Always called me by name and greeted with a kiss. The list is vast! Then we did a party for Lorimar and I decided I wanted to work there. The lady who contracted us as caterers got me an interview. I went into Personnel/Employee Benefits for an interview and they had some word processing catastrophe and I just sat down and fixed the problem for them. I never left that department, they kept me. I became the Personnel Coordinator for Lorimar and then Lorimar/Telepictures on the old MGM lot. I placed temps for the execs and also production staff for all the shows. You just never knew who you’d turn around and find!! During that time we were doing Dallas, Knot’s Landing, Perfect Strangers and a ton of other shows. Don, the husband, worked for a Radiology doctor in Beverly Hills. Everyone came there. Suzanne Pleshette, Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Faye Dunaway, etc., etc. When he had cardiac surgery I went in as a temp to help out. Everyone came through that office!! Even Charro!! (soooo sweet) So yeah, you get a little desensitized to it but mostly they were very nice folks and very few were nasty. I can’t even recall all the names, big and small, over the years. This was a very fun article, Joe. Thanks for reminding me of my very diverse background!! Fun to read!!

Tom Davis