Monday's Memory-You'll Never Walk Alone



Today's Monday Memory should keep in step with what today is about.

It's Labor Day. A holiday.
A day to honor the working man by giving him/her the day off.

Growing up (as now) we got Labor Day off from school. Down here in the south, we start school mid August, so we've already had 2 full weeks and are ready for a "break"!
It's still very warm here, temperature wise, which makes it the perfect day to grill burgers and hotdogs. At least that's always been what we've done.

Growing up tho...no Labor Day was complete without watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. My mother and I would turn it on the night before, when it started, and try to stay up all night watching our favorite stars perform, and to see Jerry Lewis talking to the kids who suffered from such a horrible disease.

Throughout the day on Monday, even as we did our chores, and prepared food to take to my "surrogate grandparents' house" (since I grew up several states away from any biological grandparents)...we still had the telethon on. And no matter how much my dad fussed about us being late to get to Mr. Paul's and Mrs. Imogene's house, Mom would not get into the car until Jerry Lewis sang HIS song...you know the one...the song he is synonymous for, even more so than any of his movies and other credentials.
The song that still, to this day, will make me cry big ole tears just hearing it..especially if it's sung by him....

(from 1986 I think it said...it's how I remember him looking. There's more stuff after he sings, but it was the only "old clip" I could find.)

and then this clip has Jerry talking about how that song came to be the theme song for the MDA. (He's much older in this clip..it was just a few years ago.)


As soon as he finished...with tears streaming down our faces, Mom and I would grab up whatever picnic type food the other kids and dad had not already loaded into the car, and join them to ride over to our holiday celebration with the Millers (those surrogate grandparents I mentioned earlier and their family.)

I always looked forward to watching the telethon. I don't know if it was because I got to "stay up all night" (altho I don't ever recall actually staying AWAKE all night), or seeing the "stars" perform on the show, or just having that time to spend with my mom. Whatever it was..it's precious to me.

Of course with all of today's busy-ness, and technology, getting MY kids to sit and watch the telethon with me is a mute point. Not entertaining enough.
But to me...it'll always be part of my childhood...and when the day comes that Jerry Lewis can do it no more...I will weep tears for him.

Comments

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said…
I have never seen the telethon, and I didn't even know they still had it on! But I can sympathize with trying to get kids to watch something I liked- I twisted arms last winter to get them to watch Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, but it just wasn't happening.
Happy Labor Day!
September 6, 2010 at 6:07 AM
McCrakensx4 said…
I remember watching it when I was a kid too...it was the only thing on TV it seemed on Labor Day. I would remember the stars and the phone bank and the kids, but I remember that song as well. What a great childhood memory Robin. I also remember that all of the stored were closed or on Sunday hours to honor those working...not so much anymore; how the times have changed.
September 6, 2010 at 8:56 AM
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