How is it possible to feel so sad about losing someone who wasn’t a long-time personal friend?
Actually, that’s not accurate. She just didn’t know she was my long-time personal friend. And I didn’t know for years that she was also an oldest daughter.
For over a decade I watched her television shows, admired her spunk, made wardrobe decisions based on what I saw her wear, and hopefully took on some of her characters’ grace, integrity and humor — especially as a young woman in the workforce. I even believed I could make it someday, too.
I felt a real sense of loss when her television series ended. Then I realized that in the world of reruns, I could still catch, enjoy and take lessons from her interacting with a cast of characters that we knew someplace in our own worlds. The irascible but tender-hearted Mr. Grant, the bumbling Ted Baxter and the oh-so-different Rhoda, Georgette, Su Ann and Phyllis.
But today’s news isn’t fake news. The Emmy-winning actor and my television friend is actually gone. I mourn, until I smile, remembering that freeze-frame of her tam-tossing jubilance in the face of life’s challenges.
Bravo, Mary Tyler Moore. Thank you.
