This is Us - It IS Us

I may have found my next "Gilmore Girls" last night. I can't remember what promotion I read or heard for the new series "This is Us". I know it was on Facebook because I stopped following everyone on Facebook except "This is Us" so I wouldn't forget about its upcoming premiere. I refused to watch any more trailers because I hate ruining something I think I may enjoy by knowing too much about it. I simply didn't want to forget when it started airing because I had a feeling it was something I would want to watch. It aired last night.

I was utterly exhausted at the very end of a very long and hard day. I do not have the stamina to deal with a one-year-with-a-cold at the tail end of my reign as a daycare provider. Then my on-line auction ended at 6:00. I had 31 bids come in at the tail end, as a bidding war started five minutes before my auction ended which ramped up the excitement level and increased my overall profits.Then I had to contact all of my auction winners. And Mom called me in the middle of this.

Long story short, I was pretty tired at the tail end of the day. Then I remembered "This is Us" was on (thankfully I taped it) and I plopped my weary body down and tuned in.

It was good. I enjoyed the way all of the characters were introduced. I liked the build up of a complicated character and could see this will be a good series to turn my attention towards. I was getting wearier and wearier and had to rewind and rewatch a few scenes so I didn't miss anything. But I was awake and coherent. Yes, it was a very good way to wind down a very tiring day.

Then there was a twist in the final few minutes of the show. I didn't see it coming but it all made perfect sense. The show I thought I would enjoy suddenly became the show I wanted to watch again the minute it was over so I could see the way the writer wove the story together to produce the ending of the beginning of the story.

I love a story that surprises me. I enjoy watching something new, with no build up or knowing too much. I like when life pleasantly surprises me when I have few or no expectations. Most of all, I think a show must be pretty darn good to keep me awake after the day I had yesterday.

This morning, I watched the cast talk about last night's episode (it is on the Facebook page of "This is Us" (https://www.facebook.com/NBCThisIsUs/) with the caption that says "Hear what the cast has to say about tonight’s episode. Spoilers ahead."), I reheard what I heard last night but didn't absorb.

One of the characters was dropped off at a fire station and abandoned by his father when he was an infant. By the age of 36, this baby was a highly successful, married, father of two kids and had everything money could buy. He found his father, showed up on his doorstep and told him "I came here today so I could look you in the eye, say that to you, get back in my fancy ass car and finally prove to myself and to you and to my family who loves me, that I didn't need a thing from you!" He says this in a way that shows he has been driven by this emotion for the better part of his life since knowing what his father did. It is an emotion packed statement and I hear my sons in his voice, his demeanor, his emotion and in his heart.

Who doesn't want to walk up to someone they feel has done an injustice to them and say those exact words? It is a powerful moment. Then the father calmly asks, "Do you want to come in?" And his son bends his head in a submissive and almost indiscernible manner and says, "Yes". That scene. It did it for me. That son is my son.

I'll be back for more.