EXCITED!  Today marks another day for me in my journey with Rosie and Oprah.  It’s amazing how so many important lessons and memories in life I can attribute back to them.  They are amazing women…who you don’t even have to say their last names and you still can evoke a feeling…or a memory.  So, excited is the only word that I can think of as the countdown begins for their first night together on the Oprah Winfrey Network…and maybe a little veclempt too.

For a long time I’ve known that Rosie has helped make me a better daughter. By her sharing about losing her own mom so young and with seeing how important being a mom has been to her, she has definately influenced me to enjoy every moment that I have with my OWN mom.  Stop and listen.  Appreciate her.  Hug her.   So, when Rosie announced on her blog back in the summer of 2005 that she would be joining “Fiddler on the Roof”, I scooped up 3 FRONT ROW center tickets for Saturday night, made the reservations from Florida to NYC and told mom, “You are going to your first Broadway show.”   The entire performance, my sister and I sat on each side of her and I held her hand, smiling and silently thinking how lucky I was to be there…and how wonderful it has been to have a mom like her…

But…as fate would have it, it wasn’t her first Broadway show.  It was her second…because Oprah announced that she was bringing “The Color Purple” to Broadway in early fall that same year…and as luck would have it, at the VERY LAST moment we were able to get tickets for opening night.  We watched as David Letterman walked Oprah over in the prettiest chocolate dress with a purple belt and then, we sat in the VERY LAST row…at the very tip top of the theater.  And as my sister and I sat on each side of my mom, I held her hand silently, believing that all dreams are possible…and how strong and powerful and smart my mom has lived her  OWN life…and how lucky I am to have a mom like her.

So, my love for Rosie and Oprah runs very deep.  They are two women who have taught me a lot during my journey…and I look forward to sitting tonight along with my sister and beside my mom, watching both the premiers of The Rosie Show and Oprah’s Lifeclass on OWN…and taking in how lucky I am to be right here at this very moment, as part of this journey…and how wonderful it is having my mom right here along for the trip.