I'm Going to Miss You, Mister Looper. That's Hooper, Big Bird, Hooper.

Everything I Needed to Know About Life, I Learned From Sesame Street (and Mister Hooper)

Sesame Street's anniversary makes me grin and shake my head and realize that I'm getting old. I grew up on Sesame Street. To really get an understanding of how much Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, Electric Company and Mister Roger's Neighborhood meant to me, I need to explain where I grew up and what little exposure to the outside world I had.

I lived out in the middle of bumfuck. We had 20 acres, most of which went back to woods with deer that would walk around our orchard looking for fruit. We had a garden that was a few acres big and we, for the most part, grew all of our veggies and fruit. We made our own jelly, canned our own tomatoes and I cannot tell you how awesome it was to steam up our own asparagus.

My driveway was half a mile long and we owned a snowplow that broke more often than it worked. We lived in a huge dip in the road and that dip resulted in me, literally, walking uphill both ways to school. In the snow. My walk to the school bus was over a mile long. One year, for Girl Scouts, as part of our environmental awareness campaign, we had to count the cars that drove past a major intersection near our houses at rush hour. I had 3. All day. For sitting at that intersection for 4 hours.

So all this is to say that there's a reason we only got three stations, the local ABC affiliate, the local NBC affiliate and PBS. Cable? HA! We would've had to pay for the poles to go down our street and our driveway!My family and I devoured the PBS because it was either that or movies (rented from the nearest movie rental place that was a 30 minute drive away and was a mom-and-pop store) as far as young children went. We watched everything. 3-2-1 Contact was huge in our house. I learned about electricity and helping others and science. Mister Roger, on the other hand, scared me. It had something to do with the changing the sweaters and the shoes. IDK, my little kid brain was weird. Or, god, Captain Kangaroo. That show ROCKED.

But, by and far, the most popular show in my house was Sesame Street. I remember Gordon, Luis, Maria, Linda, and Bob. I remember signing along with the songs and dancing about as Big Bird and Oscar taught me about caring and sharing. I remember learning a bit of Spanish and that pinball routine where they taught you to count. (and I might still sing it) here is a link and you'll be singing it for hours afterwards. It's addictive.

I remember learning about death when Mister Hooper died (offscreen) of a heart attack. I remember my mum and dad sitting down with my older sister, my older brother and me and talking to us about how sometimes, when people get old, their hearts give out. I remember crying and wondering where Mister Hooper was because who was going to run the store and sell paperclips to Bert if Mister Hooper wasn't there.

I just rewatched it again and, I'm not ashamed to admit, I still teared up and sniffled.
( Moar on Mister Hooper and Sesame Street )

What's your favorite episode of Sesame Street? What do you remember from it? What's your favorite muppet?

( my favorite are mostly embedded below )