Just the ten of us...

I know that probably most of you are so done with Jon and Kate and their eight. I wish I could say that I am. The truth is that I have watched them for a while and I really enjoy the show.

Over Memorial Day weekend, TLC had a marathon of the show and I watched some of it. While I was ironing, I paid close attention to the Season 4 finale, where Jon is pretty clear that he is not happy with TLC filming their lives and that he needs a break from the cameras. Kate dismisses Jon's comments saying that of course they'll be back for season 5.

For all of the nonsense that they have been through in the last couple of months, I am sorry. Jon's behavior that was captured by the "press" is not excusable. Neither is the disdain Kate displays for her husband on national TV.

But to watch the two of them together last week was really painful for me. I see them spending time apart when they should be together. I found myself wishing repeatedly that they would send the cameras back to the network and work on being a normal family again; work on being a married woman and man again.

I'm not in their marriage. I know what they have let us all see of their marriage. And I don't know what we haven't seen. What I do see is a woman who is very happy to be on TV and is clearly enjoying the perks that come with celebrity and having money (such as trips to San Diego on the spur of the moment- that was tonight's episode). I see a woman who wants to give her children the chance for different experiences (Kate's words from the Season 4 finale). I see a man whose wife won't listen to him.

I understand wanting to give your children more than you had growing up. That is what all parents want to do for their kids. But at what cost? Your marriage, your children's strong foundation, breaking apart? In the season premiere, both Kate and Jon said that they don't know what the future holds, but that they love their kids. I just wanted them to say that they love each other. I want Jon and Kate to say "No matter what, I'll be there for my family. I'll be there for my spouse."

As much as I like their show, I want Kate to give her permission to darken the show until such a time that Jon wants it to continue. Kate said something like (I think in the season 4 finale) that she feels she owes it to America to watch her kids grow up.

Kate, you don't owe me or the rest of America sh*t. Tell them to turn off the cameras and take a good look at your husband, the man with whom you renewed your vows a year or so ago. Yes, he is not perfect. Yes, his judgment is poor. Maybe he betrayed you. Look at him. He wants to stop. Just stop. Listen to St. Paul:

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should
be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is
head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of
the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be
subordinate to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians
5:21-24)

Jon, man up. Stop fooling round on the ski slopes and in bars and get back to the business of being a Christian husband and father. Move back into your house (it seems like he has moved out) and work on your marriage. St. Paul has some words for you, too:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed
himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water
with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish. So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own
flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the
church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man
shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh." (Ephesians 5:22-31)

And to the both of you: In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the
wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

It is my sincere hope that the network is heightening the drama to keep us watching and that Kate and Jon will be together again and working on it by the end of this season. It is my greater hope that they will just darken the show. Either way, I am praying for them and for their kids.

Romance, but a factual romance

On Thursday, I got a catalog for the J. Peterman Company. First thing I did was giggle because I immediately heard in my mind John O'Hurley say to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "E-laine...". My wits collected, I remembered that my dad used to get this catalog shipped to him every once in a while. I loved looking at this catalog when I was a kid. Kandahar, Balmoral, Morocco-all places that sounded so exotic. Places I was unlikely ever to go. Places I might not be able to find on a map. And the clothes! It was like looking at the costumes from "Murder on the Orient Express."

I still do love looking at the clothes. I like how there are no photos of the garments but instead: designers' sketches. I love the little stories they put in before they describe the garment:
"Light Show. My hostess is the official harbinger of holiday cheer, takes her job seriously. Orchestrates every perfectly-popped cork, each precisely-dollopped caviar blini, every stargazer lily in the cascading rivers of pink pointsettias. And best of all is her personal light show. Overhead spots capture the glimmering gold in her silk blouse, the deep garnet of her velvet pants, bouncing the colors off frosty windowpanes and chandelier crystals and raised champagne flutes...she looks like she's been gift-wrapped by Printemps of Paris. Next, she'll predict an end to the Cuban cigar embargo and the return of French blue to the Hamptons for summer." (J. Peterman Owner's Manual No. 64 p. 20)

The catalog-no, sorry, Owners' Manual-is truly a work of art. It's nice on a gray day like today when the wind is swaying the trees and the rain has begun to drizzle down (too heavy for a London rain, it's going to downpour-there goes the yard work!) to curl up with it on the couch (better-a chaise) under a blanket (cotton will do if you don't have a cashmere one) with a cup of tea (Earl Gray, of course) and pretend for a few moments that you are that woman from East Hampton who throws catered affairs for charity, not Christmas parties, and who has people to make it all possible.

Enter the smallest one, nose drizzling like the rain outside, who curls up in my lap, rubs that drizzly nose on my cotton T-shirt, scoots herself under the blanket with me, and takes my J. Peterman catalog so she can look at the pictures. The boys run in, arguing, as usual, over who won't let who play with whatever toy they have chosen as the only worthwhile toy in the entire house(!). The husband enters, "Honey, do you know where I put the-oh. Here it is. Nevermind."

I may not be able to drink that Earl Gray before it gets cold or be permitted 5 minutes to myself in my living room, but those delightful people with whom the Lord, in all His goodness, has deigned to bless me are better than catered affairs and $330 outfits I would wear only once if I were that woman in East Hampton. This is the life I have chosen. This is how the Lord has blessed me. This is where I am right now. And it is very, very good.

Post title from the inside cover of the Owners' Manual.

I pity the fool who don't click these links

I was watching reruns of 30 Rock on NBC's website and I discovered that you can watch full episodes of "If you're in trouble and no one else can help-and you can find them-maybe you can hire: The A-Team," "Battlestar Galactica" (all the Dirk Benedict you need!) "Buck Rodgers" (I totally wanted to be Erin Gray growing up!) and "Miami Vice!" I am so psyched. I loved the A-Team. And the token girl's name was Amy. It just didn't get better. Wish I had more free time. I could spend so much time watching those shows. I just don't have enough hours in the day.

Edited to add: If you go to hulu.com, you can see a few Fantasy Island Episodes. There are whole movies here! And it appears to be free!!!!!!

Time for me and the laptop to go on a vacation together.