Because I wanted to be Aunt Bee

Choosing a role model can be an unconscious thing and in my experience we Americans have often found them in on TV or in the movies.  From Mary Tyler Moore as working single woman to Kerry Washington in Scandal, TV women have influenced our image ow women.  From the 1950's and 1960's, I had June Cleaver, Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley as potential role models.   They were all Moms and wore a mandatory apron.   Instead, I dreamed of growing up an becoming just like Aunt Bee on the Any Griffith show.  Aunt Bee was always kind and she took care of Andy and his family.  She was also tough.  She organized a protest and she put Otis, the town drunk, to work.   She was also a single lady.  She was the extra person in the home who was not truly part of the "nuclear family."  I have always felt like that.  I was welcomed but I was still apart.  Aunt Bee still loved, contributed and was her own person.  I always wanted to be like Aunt Bee when I grew up.

Diane      May 29, 2017