Educating Michael

So, I promise that I am not jumping on the "blogging as validation of happy marriage" micro trend bandwagon, but it really must be said that I love my husband. I am a lucky woman in many, many ways. And, apart from a brief obsession with raising pack goats, Mike has great taste and we are pretty much simpatico in our thoughts and feelings. Yet, despite all his greatness, he is sorely lacking in a knowledge of pop culture, particularly seventies and eighties pop culture. He had one of those enchanted childhoods in a forest and never watched TV growing up. You can't blame him. You certainly can't blame his parents. They were doing what they thought was best by sending him out into the woods to play. But now we are all suffering because Mike can't appreciate a well-placed "Facts of Life" reference. Every time I refer to some TV show or movie from the seventies or eighties, Mike just gives me a blank stare until I say, with sincere disbelief, "you mean, you've never SEEN Footloose???" It surprises me how well he turned out, considering that the words "Roseanne Roseannadanna" mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to him. I mean, how do you get through life without knowing who Gilda Radner is!?? I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if she weren't among my top ten heroes of all time.

To be fair, most of the time Mike's lack of pop culture knowledge is not a problem. He knows a lot of stuff, most of which is highly useful. But it would be nice to know that I could say my new shirt makes me look like Mrs. Roper on "Three's Company" and he would know immediately what I mean and be able to laugh at the reference (and then spend the next ten minutes disabusing me of the belief). You just want to know that the person you plan to spend eternity with has a favorite Monkee (mine is Mickey). And, perhaps more shocking than his lack of seventies and eighties wisdom, is the fact that he has no recollection whatsoever of the whole Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley marriage, the HIStory comeback, the "You Are Not Alone" music video, etc. Where was he for all of that? Why can't he dredge up as much disgust and outrage as I can when that whole disaster comes up? Because he never watched VH1!!!!

So, I have decided to make a list of movies, television, and music to help Mike learn a little more about the stuff that pretty much makes up 60% of who I am. We can pick something to study each week. I can rattle off more than 20 shows to make him watch without batting an eye, but the question is where to actually start?? I was thinking the best would be to start with the first 15 years of Saturday Night Live. I mean, he did watch some SNL growing up, but he knows little about the early episodes. I think that's a good place to start. Then we can talk like Buckwheat in our home, which was always something I dreamed of doing with my husband. Imagine an eternity of "hi, I'm Buhwhee, amemba me?"