49 49 49

May 13, 2010 8:39 a.m.
I was officially 49.

I don't mind being 49. I don't think I'll mind being 50. It's just that 49 sounds so....bland. You aren't here, you aren't there, you're just, 49.

In 1999 we traveled by van to Washington D.C.. Money was tight, as always and we were going to be traveling for 14 days. If you have ever visited D.C. you know how expensive hotels are--even the one and two star rooms can cost over $100 a night. Well, Ken had heard about a motel in Vienna, VA from a well-traveled friend. It even had a classy name "The Vienna Wolftrap Inn". He said it was clean and close to the Metro station. And guess what? It was only $49 a night. How could you beat that?

This was before the days of Internet, at least for me. I didn't know a thing about Tripadvisor or anything other than the AAA travel book. It gave the Wolftrap two stars. Not bad. I just checked Tripadvisor and the dear Wolftrap is still open for business. The best comment was "at least the bugs didn't carry my bed away." That pretty well sums it up. I knew we were in trouble when we checked in. The desk clerk kind of reminded me of the guy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles that wouldn't take a Rolex in exchange for a room. He was just kind of sleazy and reeked of cigarette smoke. Our room wasn't much better. At first glance, it was just an old motel room that hadn't been remodeled since it was built. It had seventies style flowered bedspreads and disgusting matted shag carpet on the floor. Upon further inspection we discovered that the smoke detector had been covered by a shower cap. I wanted to leave.

Oh wait, it gets worse. When we pulled back the bedspread we found ashes in the bed, as if the maid smoked while hanging over the bed changing the linens. Yuck! Well, we reasoned, we would only be sleeping there and as Tom Bodette says, all rooms look the same in the dark. And, it was only $49!

Thus began a family mantra: 49-49-49. We say it when we know something is too good to be true. We say it when we encounter a crummy motel room. We say it to mean that it isn't good and it isn't bad, it isn't here and it isn't there, it's just 49.

I am just 49. I feel younger in my head and older in my body. My career is neither here or there. Right now, life just is. Some days are great, and others aren't. I know there will always be something better, but I also know that some days are just a a 49.

The Story

A sad thing happened over the weekend. Nancy Hughes died. She was 91 years old. Well, let me correct that, Helen Wagner, the actress who played Nancy , died. Her character on the long-running soap opera "As The World Turns" hadn't been killed off yet, just relegated to an occasional party scene or two. Her days as the "tent-pole" character, that steady individual that held story lines together, were long gone. A sad testament to the decline of soap operas into seedy story lines that revolve around the latest sexual affair.

Growing up "The Story" was a common thread that tied together the women of my family. I can remember watching it with my mom, my great-grandmother and my Aunt Cheryl. If you missed an episode, you could always call grandma to catch up on the daily escapades of Bob, Lisa, Kim, Tom, Susan and the rest. We talked about the story at birthday parties. We talked about the story when we went shopping. We talked about the story at almost every family gathering. Heck, I thought those people were part of my family for awhile! As a child I could tell you who Bob was cheating with on Lisa. I knew that Franny was Bob's child with Kim, but not with Lisa. Oh my the sinful lives the people of Oakdale lived. For this little Baptist soul, it was all very scandalous

I think I stopped watching ATWT when I was in high school. I've tried to watch it a couple of times in the past few years but I don't know anyone any more and the story lines don't interest me. My great grandma is gone. Characters have died or moved on and The Story is no longer the same. I don't miss it. It's just a sweet childhood memory that ties me to those I love.