After All This Time...

Many people have asked me "where Gilligan's Island came from"... i enjoyed the television series when i was young. What i saw of it. But my enjoyment of it was never anything out of the ordinary. Sure, i was always attracted to the concept of a tropical paradise. Being in the middle of Winter Wonderland makes remote, tropical paradises rather appealing... But no smoking gun, so to speak. Certainly nothing that i recall about it that stands out as significant.

Today, i i finally figured out where my connection to Gilligan's Island is rooted. i figured it out during a phone call with my dad, Mister Towne. We were talking about stuff, and it just popped in my head. It's a deep-seated, long-held connection. If thirty years makes something long-held... It was my Grandpa and Grandma. And a deodorant commercial.

For many years... Prior to my recent submission to the fate of never having it... i have said that "i want a woman who can just roll her eyes at me when i'm being goofy. Like my Grandma did with my Grandpa."

This started for me the summer i turned fourteen. This was a pretty formative summer in my life. But i'll save the details for some other time. One evening, Grandpa was lying on his side on the living room floor, watching TV. His head was propped up, just like it always was. Grandma was across the room, making dinner. And i was sitting in the easy chair, where i could see both of them.

Onto the TV comes an Arid Extra Dry commercial... With none other than Tina Louise as the spokesperson. It's a simple commercial... Just a beautiful redhead, smiling as she holds an aerosol can of deodorant. She starts out with, "Hi. I'm Tina."

The sound had barely cleared the speakers when my Grandpa responded, "Hi Tina. I'm Fred." In his exaggerated Tennessee drawl. He wasn't even finished with "Fa-red", before he peeked over at Grandma with a big grin on his face.

i remember thinking something along the way of, "Oh, &*#!!", and looking to see Grandma's response.

She just grinned, rolled her eyes, and kept on with what she was doing. In this moment, i learned a lot. A lot about trust, and love, and goofing around. About a lifetime relationship. About being best friends. About being companions. About all that, and having a little fun, too. And about not taking little things too seriously. A combination of things i sought in a partner, for so many years, but never found.

It was also in this moment, that my one of my suspicions about my family was confirmed. We are all attracted to redheads. Yes, by nature, i am more of a "Ginger" man, than a "Marianne" guy. Obviously i haven't always gone the way nature intended in my life.... And Tina Louise... Errrr... Ginger, was always hot. i've never been a starstruck individual. Not in any way. My association with this pitch person wasn't so much about being struck with her, as it was about a connection to her character. My Grandpa was keyed in to her. Me? It was the wistfulness and beauty of the show, that got me.

The deodorant marketers failed with me. They intended to sell me a can of ozone-depleting toxics. What i got out of the commercial was a lifetime of beautiful thoughts.