My crush on Mister Rogers

I don't know if I have ever told anyone this,
But I had..have a crush on Mister Rogers.
I think of him every Monday as I am waiting impatiently for an email from Elder Nerent.
As I wait I realize that I should be doing something productive and so a song he use to sing comes to my mind,

Let's think of something to do while we're waiting
While we're waiting for something new to do.
Let's try to think up a song while we're waiting
That's liberating and will be true to you.
Let's think of something to do while we're waiting
While we're waiting 'til something's through.
You know it's really all right;
In fact, it's downright quite bright
To think of something to do
That's specific for you.
Let's think of something to do while we're waiting.


It always takes me back to my secret crush.
I never really paid attention to him when I was young,
Mostly because by the time his show was aired I was past my childhood prime.
I know my brother Baby Davey would watch,
And I as a know- it- all teenager  laughed at the Saturday Night Live parodies of him.
But then I became a mother.
And Mister Rogers more than any children s programming seemed to bring a sense of calm
and peacefulness to our house
Let's face it.
Sometimes he could be downright boring.
But it was a favorite of my children and it would buy me a half hour's peace.
I never understood why he needed to change his sweater and shoes all the time but hey...
Different strokes for different folks.
(btw: His mother made those sweaters that zipped by hand for him....ahhhh)
His puppets were crudely made and well let's face it again..
Lady Elaine was scary.

But there were days as a stay at home mother,
Where I didn't feel as happy or grateful to be home.
Attending to the mundane every day tasks that can seem never-ending,
I let thoughts creep in that maybe I wasn't always the best housekeeper
or the most patient mother.
Maybe I wasn't cut out for it.
Not every day.
But sometimes
and on one of those days I collapsed in a heap on the couch and just watched Mister Rogers.
He looked at me (I swear he looked right into my heart) and said
"You are special

Just the way you are."
And I believed him.
I watched him everyday after that.
Because he reminded me of something that I already knew...
But just needed to hear.

One of my favorite Mister Rogers stories is this about his accepting a Daytime Emmy:( excerpt from Esquire Magazine's coverage of the gala, written by Tom Junod)
" Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence."
And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, 'I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, seven seconds — and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly "May God be with you," to all his vanquished children.


So to you Mister Rogers...
I thought of something to do while I'm waiting...
Ten seconds
to think of you and how you helped me to become who I am.
Thank you.