The End of an Era Part II

I've been feeling a little morose lately.  It could be the change in weather, Ben's really long trip to California for work, or my hormones, but you know what I think it really is?  Wings.  I really liked that show.  I'm almost more sad about it being over than Lost.  Crazy, I know.  But you WANTED Lost to end just so you could have a life again.  Wings was a GOOD friend, a friend that meets you at a coffee shop for a quick catch up and leaves you laughing and feeling really good about yourself after 20 minutes.  A low maintenance friend who will be there when you need them whether it be tomorrow or in 3 weeks and they won't be offended.  Lost is like a friend that calls you up at 3am and HAS TO TALK and you are so involved in their drama that you HAVE TO LISTEN just so you can know.  Even though you know this relationship is bad for you and you should just drop them, you make yourself feel better by telling yourself you are such a loyal friend and you know they will go away someday so you just need to hang in there until they are gone.  This friend will also say really dramatic things and then not explain them.

Anyway, since Wings was such a good friend I REALLY miss them.  Now that it's gone I realize I really took it for granted.  And I tried to watch Cheers (same writers), it just wasn't the same.  And now I see things that remind me of Wings all the time.  The other day I went to Burlington to return a belt.  There in the checkout line, this was taunting me:

And this isn't like I saw Wings on DVD, because that's understandable and I would buy it.  This is an intimate secret we share--this is the reason Thomas Hayden Church left the show!  And it just sat there, reminding me of my old friend and the bond that we shared.  Dirty rotten mumble mumble mumble.

Another thing I loved about Wings was the accidental-future-guest stars.  Recognize this guy:

That's right, it's JACK SHEPHERD.  In Season 3, Episode 21 he played a robust and lovable high school baseball player from Joe's alma mater that was about to break Joe's record.  Joe was kind of resentful about it.  This was funny because he was oh so squeaky clean: "Oh you were down in Mexico, huh?  Probably partying with the ladies..." says Joe.  "No I was down there helping rebuild a village with my church group" says Jack Shepherd, all shoulders and smiles.  Good times.

I know all good things must come to an end, but why Wings?  Couldn't they just live and work in that airport terminal forever?  I was feeling sad about it, reminded of the show when I saw that my Proctologist, I mean DOCTOR OF NO SPECIFIC SPECIALTY, was named Lowell (and as much as I loved Lowell on the show, I hoped his dimwittedness was not because of the name.  I also hoped Lowells DID come with small fingers, but I digress).  Anyway, I was oh so sad about my old friend, when I remembered something: an image flashed into my mind from many seasons ago.  It had been a perplexing problem at the time but one I did not fret over because there had been so many episodes still to watch, oh so many episodes.  But once forgotten, it came back to me in full color, like the ghost of a friend reminding you that they are still there and they still love you:

An episode left to watch!  To this day I do not know why that particular episode is on disc only, and I don't care much.  I know that its there and that is what matters.  I found the episode on YouTube in terrible condition, almost pixelated beyond recognition, but I can hear their voices and have the set memorized enough to know where they are and what is going on.  I almost watched it right then and there on my phone, waiting for Ben in the car while he bought a roast for Sunday dinner but then I stopped, realizing I shouldn't squander such a gift from TV afterlife.  And so it waits patiently, comforting me by its very existence.  And someday, perhaps a day thats gray and lonely, I will call up that old friend and we will meet.  I will meet them and it will be just like it was, all shoulders and smiles.