When we moved here in 2017, Gary often worked the 2:00 – 10:00 shift and then had to drive back from Appleton. A friend had set me up with Netflix and so I watched a lot of TV and read because I didn’t know anyone.
One day I found this weird show called Shitt’s Creek. That’s Kevin’s Mom! Wow, there’s Cookie and Gerry. Even though I didn’t have any friends in Oshkosh, that show had so many actors that I had enjoyed over the years and they seemed like my friends.
And then there was the writing and the characters. I fell in love with that show and watched a whole season wrapped up in blankets that first cold winter when we had the original wavy glass panes and a furnace that had seen better days. I had a headache all the time, the movers had lost and broken so many of our belongings, including the sofa that now had three legs, and all I wanted to do was cry.
When I turned on that show with such an amazing cast filled with old and new friends, the tears stopped, I laughed and felt happy for a bit.
Eventually I confessed to Gary that I watched an entire series of this crazy show and so on his day off we started all over. By the time we finished the series our house was more orderly, we had insulation and new windows and a new furnace, and I had found a few friends. And I had rescued the dog who saved my life.
I know it sounds ridiculous that when I heard the news about Catherine O’Hara I felt like I’d lost a close friend. I tell people that Moira Rose was my first friend in Oshkosh. Without Schitt’s Creek and a few other shows I don’t think I could have made it through that first winter when I was all alone with my pain and thought daily about killing myself.
This is why the arts are important. Shows and movies and books and music allow you to take a break from your life. They remind you that things won’t always be difficult. So often I thought that if Moira could change and grow to love her life in Schitt’s Creek then I could learn to love my life in Oshkosh.
Thank you for being my first friend in Oshkosh, Catherine O’Hara. Thank you for the laughs and lessons learned.
