Sunday Morning

 

   Former host of CBS Sunday Morning, Charles Osgood, died recently at age 91. I've spent many Sunday mornings, virtually, with him and have fond memories of those days.

   My mother got me interested in the show back when Osgood's predecessor, Charles Kuralt, was the host. Until then I never watched TV on Sunday morning because we went to church. After I graduated from college, on weekends I wasn't visiting my parents, I watched Sunday Morning now and again.

   I didn't become a regular viewer until I moved into my first house in Faribault. Every weekend off that I spent at home I watched Sunday morning. Charles Osgood was the host. 

   I liked to watch Sunday Morning while drinking a pot of freshly brewed tea and eating pastries from a local bakery. I always bought the pastry on Saturday. I would sit on the couch, pot of tea on the coffee table and pastry on a plate, cats curled up nearby ready for the first sounds of the trumpet that began each show.

   For the next hour and a half I had nothing to do except refill my cup and put my pastry dish in the kitchen. I could relax and enjoy the show. I always wore something comfortable, mostly my pajamas, those mornings. Many times after the show was over, my Mom and I would talk on the phone sometimes as long as an hour about the show and what we liked.

   When I would visit my parents, my mother and I would watch it together.

   It was a habit I kept even when I moved from Faribault.  Nine to ten-thirty on non working Sunday mornings was my downtime. I did not answer the phone or do anything else except watch the show. (Unless one of the cats wanted to cuddle or be groomed. )That small space of time became very important to me, especially when I started working in a busier pharmacy. Most of the time the only downtime I had.

   Over the years C and I started to go to church together so I wasn't able to watch as much as I'd like. I still watched as much as I could and tried to keep that hour and a half free. I watched Charles Osgood's last show as host and was a little sad. I knew Jane Pauley would do a good job as host, but I'd miss Osgood's round toned voice and his music and rhymes. 

   A while later I stopped watching. It's a good show and well worth the time, but I just couldn't carve out that hour and a half  of free time anymore. There was always something that had to be done. 

   I have to admit, that I do miss that leisurely hour and a half on Sundays. I miss seeing stories about good things going on, artists and performers. Every show ended with a moment in nature, just the sound of the wind, water, animals or birds. It streams on my computer so I could watch it another day, but it wouldn't be the same. It has to be Sunday.