Kickin' It Old School with My Kemosabes

One of my earliest memories is of running in from playing outside to watch Mr. Rogers and the Lone Ranger. I liked Mr. Rogers okay, but the little tiny town thing always seemed kind of weird. And why did he always change his shoes? The simplicity of a six-shooter loaded with silver bullets was more to my liking. I've recently had the great pleasure of introducing the masked man and his faithful Indian companion to the boys. I've got a small video collection, and we watch a couple of episodes every Saturday morning. This is our "Boys Day"--I play with the boys while Ruthie gets a little time away. (We decided to call it Boys Day instead of "Keep Mama Out of Happy Dale Day," but when Miss In Utero arrives in July, we'll have to come up with something else.) At any rate, the boys are loving the Lone Ranger. I was ambitious a couple of weeks ago and made the boys pancakes with blueberry sauce. THEN we pulled the TV into the kitchen, so we could watch our shows while eating breakfast--Saturday morning bliss. Harry was so excited when the William Tell Overture started up that he pushed his pancakes away so he could focus on the show. It wasn't until halfway through the first episode that he was able to manage eating and watching simultaneously. When it's time to watch, he runs around yelling Hi-Ho, Shmilwa! and firing his guns over his head. Jackson's advanced enough to be trying to follow the storyline. He asks me throughout the show, "Now, are those the bad guys?" It's great. I still thrill myself to the sound of the overture, the firing guns, and the opening line: "A fiery horse with the speed of light; a cloud of dust, and a hearty 'Hi-Ho, Silver!'." But my favorite part is the wonderful ingenuousness of it all--no irony, self-consciousness, double entendre, wink-wink-nudge-nudge--just an unabashed, straightforward commitment to defend the weak and bring the guilty to justice. It is, of course, frequently melodramatic and even a bit hokey here and there--but I'll trade sophistication for earnestness and good faith any day. Here's more of what I mean from the opening (makes me smile every time): "This is a story of one of the most mysterious characters to appear in the early days of the west. He was a fabulous individual. A man whose presence brought fear to the lawless and hope to those who wanted to make this frontier land their home. He was known as The Lone Ranger." A fabulous individual indeed. I have got to get some ivory-handled six-shooters!