Baywatch

Wednesday, August 12, 2014

Today I am grateful for “Baywatch”. Yikes! She’s snapped her rubber now! I just learned that “Baywatch” is to be made into a MOVIE! Seriously? Is there no better subject, story line, or potential film idea in the world? Impossible. Yet I’m grateful for “Baywatch”? Why?

When we moved to Jakarta, Indonesia and found a house to live in, it didn’t take more than a few months to develop a routine. Routines are what hold people together. They are important for daily existence, not to mention happiness, especially in a foreign land, especially in a “developing” nation.

My husband soon learned he would be spending a great deal of time in the car. . .with various drivers schlepping him to and from work. I learned that I would not have use of that car at the beginning or end of the day. . .when my husband was going to or from. That didn’t leave much time in between so I often took taxi’s or baja’s to get around. It was part of my routine.

We didn’t hire a cook because she would have made Indonesian food and my husband would sooner starve than eat rice in any form and God forbid there be local spices in it. I cooked. When I felt like it. When it wasn’t too hot. It was always too hot. We had access to the best beef (from Australia) and bread from the French baker, so he loved it.

Television programs we could understand were virtually non-existent and if they were in English, often they were subtitled and out of sync. One day I was thrilled because I flicked around on the channels and found an old movie, “Easter Parade”, with Judy Garland. Great! About half-way in, it was pre-empted by the mosque. I waited through the call-to-prayer. . .but the movie never came back on. All night. Grrrrr! But that’s how it went. Renting movies was the best option. Or reading. Most days.

Enter “Baywatch”! Every Sunday, which was his only day off, John got up at the screech of dawn to golf with three other guys before it got too hot to tolerate. Sometimes when he was finished, he’d meet me at the American Club where I would be swimming and talking stupid with other golf widows. Sometimes I’d be waiting at home, reading. This was pre-cell phone so plans were made ahead of time. We had developed a routine.

Always on Sundays. . .at 5 pm. . .ALWAYS. . .I made hamburgers and we watched “Baywatch”. Don’t judge! It was the only permanently scheduled English program. We counted on “Baywatch”. That’s sounds bad even writing it. Now I’M worried about me!

When we moved back home after three years in Jakarta, I said to my husband, “If you ever see me watching “Baywatch” again in my entire lifetime. . .shoot me!” Now there is to be a “Baywatch” movie. I won’t go! I don’t want him locking and loading!

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