When the sitcom “Three’s Company” premiered in 1977, it crossed some TV boundaries that had never been challenged: two single women living with one male roommate. Our parents forbade us to watch it; it crossed their boundaries, too.
As a parent, I get it now, and I respect that they cared enough to set that limit for us. Now, however, as adults and parents ourselves, we realize social norms and mores have changed considerably in these last 47 years.
Perhaps that is why Gail chose to celebrate the landlady “Mrs. Roper” by joining an already established Facebook phenomenon known as “Mrs. Roper’s Romp.” Since Gail has no shortage of friends, and she was already a cogent influencer in her small town before “influencer” became a thing, she had no problem getting her friends to join her.
And, I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad are nodding their approval–and laughing–from above.
Gail and her daughter Lydia
One of the Mrs. Roper’s mothers saw the group romping down the street, and thought they were dressed as clowns. Good thing she doesn’t suffer from coulrophobia!
Apparently, this is sweeping the nation, at least for those women–and some men–who want to get in touch with their inner Mrs.–and Mr. Roper.
This, apparently was the first Romp for Gail’s group, but there will certainly be more. Stay tuned to her Facebook page for future Romps!
Suzanne and I engaged in lower-key fun yesterday. Being the spelling nerds we are, we took ourselves to the Kansas State Spelling Bee, the Scripps preliminary for the National Spelling Bee to be held in Washington DC. It was hosted right here in our small city; it is our understanding it had always been in our capitol city of Topeka, but this year, it was right in our backyard.
Of course, we couldn’t miss it. And, of course, we were the only ones there who weren’t there to support their child/family member as they competed. We could tell, because everyone else in the small crowd had a nametag with a number for their participant.
We didn’t care. We own our spelling nerdiness; wear it like a badge of honor.
The words started out easy as they typically do, but quickly progressed in difficulty as the single-elimination error policy resulted in a quick exodus of many in the contestant group.
Pictures were not allowed during the competition, this was the warm-up round.
New to us was the Vocabulary Round, whereby the contestant is given a word with two possible definitions. The 50/50 odds didn’t prevail for a considerable number of contestants, and I found myself questioning my own ability. And I thought I was such a word and spelling nerd. Turns out that, perhaps as the late great Toby Keith sang, “I ain’t as good as I once was.” My temerity was now obvious to me. No longer can I continue to blandish myself as an ace speller. Even my lexicon isn’t what I thought it was, as the vocabulary round proved.
I felt the old familiar feelings of excitement and anxiety I once felt as the young spelling bee contestant, my stomach perhaps needed an antacid from the dyspeptic stress, but the truth is, my hips fared worse than my stomach from the four hours on the bleachers in that auditorium, reminding me more of my sciatica.
The words continued to increase in complexity and decrease in familiarity; they would vacillate between short and long words such as crith and hermeneutics. In the end, likely all but one of the contestants were mollified by their families in attendance, the rubicon from the wrong answer took them out of the game.
One excited young man took home the gold, and one disappointed young woman claimed second place. I felt her pain. I placed second in the Mitchell County (Kansas) spelling bee in the fourth grade and never placed again. Clearly, I have never recovered from that defeat.
Gail is a spelling nerd, too, as evidenced by our participation–and last year’s victory–in the team adult spelling bee we participate in. We missed it this year, as it was the same day my son got married.
Next year.
Perhaps all the brouhaha over Mrs. Roper’s Romping in Gail’s hamlet is misunderstood by some, but clearly they haven’t spent enough time with Gail and her friends. Gail, Suzanne and I see fun as a non-negotiable aspect of living a full life. Clearly all the other Mrs. Ropers do, too.
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My last post was Monday, March 4th. March Forth. We all did, as we continue to do. I continued my trip through Arizona, picking up my friend Marilyn in Flagstaff the next morning, then traveling to the sacrosanct and breathtaking natural wonder that she had not yet seen: the Grand Canyon. I had been several times including a day hike, but it never fails to inspire me and fill me with wonder.
We visited my dear friends Tana and Amy in Phoenix, then came home through Portales, New Mexico, where I went on an exchange program there from my university in 1986.
I hadn’t been back in 20 years; the good memories and nostalgia filled a place deep inside me.
Marilyn was able to connect with a college friend who lived in the area, she hadn’t seen her in about 25 years. It was a tearful and blessed reunion.
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The moral of Mrs. Roper’s Romp and the spelling bee is this: whatever your breed of fun is, HAVE IT! Get your weird on if you have to, or get your quirky self to the spelling bee. Or, get out and travel to see the people and places you want to see.
Keep your heart and mind open to new experiences, keep your head high and your arms open wide to capture all that is out there waiting for you. If you listen to your heart–and let yourself go, you will likely find yourself in a continuum of raucous joy, a recipient of a veritable cornucopia of beguiling fun.