I’d be hard pressed to find a post-pubescent American
without some memory of Dick Clark.
Luckily mine isn’t merely of seeing him on television, but of helping
him make it. I’ve written of him
here before, as the mention made Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-ing myself a sweet
and simple task, but there is way more to my memory of him than that. My connection to Mr. Clark plays a
large part in my take on life.
I can’t remember a childhood New Years Eve that didn’t
include watching the ball drop with my family. The daughter of a former emergency room nurse and paramedic,
holidays that involved lots of drunk driving like NYE, Halloween and the 4th
of July were usually spent out of harm’s way (unless you are one to
consider the television dangerous).
Many years later, my first job in Los Angeles was working alongside
Dick Clark on the set of his talk show, “The Other Half”. In the decade since, I have been lucky
enough to work with everyone from Justin Bieber:
to Kermit the Frog (and maybe a few Bachelors):
but no
experience has been as powerful as standing beside Mr. Clark (although putting my aging on blast like this is playing a close second). Here’s why.
I really wish a stranger had walked into our den on an early
1980’s NYE and said “someday, you will work with that man” as the ball dropped,
just to see my reaction... Or do I?
I grew up in Connecticut. I wanted to be a child psychologist. I barely knew how to operate a
Polaroid. But things change. Had someone told me then what I
know now, what (if anything) would I have done differently? Should we be as adults what we are as children? If so, how completely? And, for the love of God, why?!
I could never have imagined where my life would take
me. It is nothing like I ever pictured,
yet still I cannot picture it any differently.
As we head into the New Year, remember that life happens for
no reason other than to be lived, and hopefully, loved. Be open to whatever it brings you, as
you never know when you may end up finding “The Other Half” of what you
expected- or didn’t even know you were looking for.
Wishing you 2013 blessings this year.
