When Everything was Special

Dear Mom,
Back in the day, or I guess the 'day' for me being the 70's, when there were 4 or maybe 5 channels on the television depending on the reception and whether the PBS station was coming in or not, it seems that everything was SPECIAL. The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special, the Andy Williams Christmas Special, and of course, The ABC After School Special.

Nowadays there are hundreds of channels and nothing is special.

I've been looking on the internet for a particular episode of the After School Special, and I can find what I imagine is every After School Special ever made. Except for the one I want. I remember that After School Specials were events. But now when I skim through the list of episodes and read the synopses, I am wondering why. I was a bit shocked at the subject matter of some of the specials. It seems like they dealt with some real depressing topics, and I count my blessings because, fortunately for us, some of the topics were about as foreign as the antics and ugly behavior of The Housewives of Whatever County and The Kardashians. We didn't have best Friends who were Stoned, a Mom Who Hit Us, and a brother who thought it would be cool to be a Teen Dad.

Besides the one special with Lance Kerwin and Pa Ingalls where the boy turned into a gold medal marathon runner because he wet the bed and his cruel mother put his sheets out on the clothesline and he needed to run home faster than the bus to get the sheets off the line before the kids on the bus saw them and learned about his secret -and why are the Moms on those shows always so mean?- besides that special (which maybe it wasn't even an after school special now that I think about it) I can really remember only one After School Special. One line from that special that has stayed with our family for more than 30 years, and it is the one After School Special that I cannot find:
The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon.

Whenever I am on overload and need to give myself a little pep talk, the words etched 30+ years deep into my brain and the image of Duffy Moon with his eyes crossed and his cheeks puffed out come to me and I hear are the words Duffy said to himself. "You can do it, Duffy Moon!"

So, when this morning I gave you a brief rundown of the Christmas knitting and the exciting new magazine knitting deadline along with the selfish knitting I've been doing for me you said just the words I needed to hear.

"You can do it, Duffy Moon!"

Yes, I can. So just know that if you see me sitting with my knitting at hand, my eyes crossed and my cheeks puffed out, I am giving myself a little pep talk. And hopefully I will not be the subject matter of a future After School Special written by my kids: "My Mom Knit Herself a Straight Jacket"!   ( edited- I mean strait jacket..... back to the knitting- kim)

Love,
Kim