ANNA BANANA

     For me it's a signifiant day but I awoke all groggy. I had had a very busy day yesterday. The house papers were signed at the lawyers office. Then I had to take Buddy and myself to have various mailing addresses updated.
      April 29th is the day of the house closing.
     And that's today. Early this morning I lay in my bed tossing and reliving the fire. I could not get comfortable so I got up for a glass of water. As I staggered back to my bed I remembered that a huge British wedding was happening some time in the night thanks to our time difference. The media has been pushing the event for months creating a frenzy of followers. I was getting a bit fed up hearing stuff hour after hour yet a strange thing happened. I turned the power bar on to enable the TV in my bedroom and glanced at my watch. It was now 7:07 am. Once back under my sheets I turned to the remote and switched on the TV! I had had no plans to watch it last night but now I became curious to see how far along the affair had come. I think I was looking for distraction from my earlier disturbing thoughts.
     The scene on my screen showed the couple standing at the alter while the choir was singing. Then they knelt as prayers followed. Their version of the Lords' prayer was slightly different from one that I recall. The language of religious prayer seems to be evolving to meet the needs of keeping it current. It's all about followers.
     Restless,  I channel surfed and discovered that every station was at the exact same clip, all synced. All around the world people were seeing the same identical scene live from the same one spot, 2 billion viewers. I continued to watch until their balcony scene and their kiss and then turned the TV off. Why had I become so hooked? I watched longer than I intended and that's because of the little inserts the viewers get on local stations, the hook.
     It is afternoon now. As I type this post Oprah is on somewhere in the background in the house. She is recalling the royal wedding. Seems everyone has to have their spin on this historic affair. Whatever drives so many to become addicted followers? Oprah seems to know. Could it be a hook appealing to something in a viewer? Her success has made her millions.
      This morning my hook occurred when a reporter interviewed a Canadian lady who had travelled to London. She was wearing a huge 'banana hat' on her head making her stand out. She got her moment of fame when the reporter was keen to learn why a 'banana hat' was her thing.
      Nicknamed Anna Banana when she was a tot, it has stuck with her. I smiled because I realized that I was in that lady's life then when her nanny, Sharon, gave her that nickname. Sharon was the sister of our nanny,Wendy, and we all lived in Unionville during my teaching days. The kids had play dates, birthday parties and overnights for several years till Anna  Banana and her family moved after her parents broke up. Photos from those days are in some box of recovered from the fire stuff stacked somewhere in our current basement.
     The Anna media clip changed my involvement level. I had a totally new relationship with the event. I was now emotionally involved somehow. Why does familiarity make us so much more accepting of what surrounds us? For me Anna will stand out when I recall moments of this day. 'Sold' will also be linked with it.
April 29,2011