I’m Gonna Make It After All

Mary Tyler Moore was is my idol. Her theme song was like a mantra for my life. “Who can turn the world on with her smile? (me) Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worth while?” (me again)

Even the montage, that was the fabulous beginning of “The Mary Taylor Moore Show,” was what my young, feathered-haired head always dreamed my life would be. Watch it here I watched this seriously ten times today. It must be similar to what guys feel when they watch Billy Jack and “One Tin Soldier” starts to play.

My brother Rob and I recently had a conversation about what TV character most influenced us as kids. (We watched a seriously unhealthy amount of 70’s TV. See Proof Here.) He, obviously, is the separated-at-birth twin of Captain Kirk and I am Mary Tyler Moore. I don’t just mean in theory. As a young adult I; moved to a big city, worked in TV and had a VERY grumpy boss. Poor Rob doesn’t even have the chance to command a space ship. He should have picked “Little Joe” instead that way he could have at least gotten a horse.

Even though I don’t have (all) the same dreams I did when I was 12 or even 21, I still hold a piece of Mary in my suburban-mom heart. She was the perfect woman in my young eyes. She was kind, smart, pretty, funny, modest, and brave. In that way, she is still my idol.

(I know she wasn’t a real person okay. I know.)