Thank You All My Children
I grew up with my Mother watching soap operas. I have fuzzy memories of what was on the television screen. My first crystal clear memory of the soaps my Mother watched however, are of All My Children. I remember being in the second grade, home sick with a sore throat or the flu. I really just remember being miserable and wanting to be near my Mother. Curled up on the rose print love seat while she was eating her lunch was the first time I saw Tad and Dixie. My Mother explained to me that Tad was trying to save Dixie and her son Junior from his father Adam Chandler.
Amazingly it wasn’t the stunning Erica Kane that first attracted me; it was really the fun name of Dixie. I didn’t really watch it. I just later remember about a few years later seeing commercials of Tad walking through a forest announcing Tad was returning. I think I was at a friend’s house and we both thought it would make our Mothers happy.
It was Sarah Michelle Gellar that really got me into All My Children; I was eleven years old and in the fifth grade. I had been obsessed with the show Swans Crossing where she had played the lead girl Sydney. My Mother had been telling me she was now on All My Children. Curiosity got to me and my desire to see SMG again on screen. The next time I was home sick, I put All My Children on. I sat and watched and was grateful it wasn’t on the same time as Another World which I had adopted earlier that school year as My Soap. I watched again the next day, completely in awe of Erica Kane and Kendall Hart.
Over the summer I fell in love with it even more, while adding Loving to the steadily growing list of soaps that were grabbing my attention. Middle school started, and I would ask my Mother what happened on All My Children that day, what was going on with Erica and Dmitri, or Edmund and Maria, or Charlie and Hayley. I wanted Tad back with Dixie; it was just obvious he didn’t belong with Brooke. I kept up with the show through my mother, random recaps I found on prodigy and the days I was home sick from school, vacations and snow days.
When my Mother passed away when I was in High School, I kept watching the soaps. I continued to take part of my day and escape to the fictional towns. No matter what was going on, I could take a moment and visit Pine Valley, or Port Charles or Bay City. Then Bay City vanished into the memories of its viewers and the others would soon as well. I’ve watched I think every soap possible for about 19 years. You name them I’ve watched them. I’ve loved them, and I’ve said good bye to them. I cried (and still do) when I watched the Another World finale. My heart broke when Port Charles, Sunset Beach and Passions went off the air. I felt so confused when Guiding Light and As the World Turns left and the doors to Springfield and Oakdale were now locked away.
With All My Children (and soon, One Life to Live) it feels even worse. These were my Mother’s shows. The tradition of watching them was something she passed down to me. It was something that was still around to comfort me when I was sick from school, or going through something and didn’t have her around to comfort me. These helped. When I could, I still scheduled my classes around the soaps. I remember sitting in my dorm room when Bianca and Lena shared their first kiss and the first Lesbian kiss in daytime. I remember sitting in my dorm room when Leo died, crying my eyes out and my hall-mates were wondering whatever was wrong with me.
I might not have recognized All My Children very much in the last few years; then again General Hospital is just starting to be recognizable itself. I would watch whenever I could, but I haven’t had it on my TiVo schedule until recently. When it started to have that charm of Pine Valley, I felt the warmth of its embrace as it wrapped hugged all of us fans. It radiates from the characters, the connections they all have.
Watching the marathons on Soap Net this past weekend, that are yes currently saved to the TiVo I got to see the great moments that helped to create the charm of Pine Valley and All My Children, moments that made us fall in love with certain characters and couples. I have always loved Tad and Dixie, even if I didn’t always understand motivations or like what they did.
I guess it’s fitting in a way; I’m sick with a cold, cuddled up in a blanket, ready to watch the final broadcast episode of All My Children, very close to the same way I first got into the show. I have a box of tissues, more for the tears though than anything else. Unlike the towns of Bay City, Springfield, Oakdale, Harmony and Sunset Beach we will not be locked out of them. Pine Valley will just be in the midst of some reconstruction, a new annex if you will and in a few months back to us, in our homes, on the go when Prospect Park launches it online with its sister Agnes Nixon soap One Life to Live.
The Great and the Least,
The Rich and the Poor,
The Weak and the Strong,
In Sickness and in Health,
In Joy and Sorrow,
In Tragedy and Triumph,
You are ALL MY CHILDREN
-Agnes Nixon