1 Mother 2 Another

First, a little back story:


We decided to follow the AAP’s recommendations for toddlers
and keep Madeleine from watching any television before age 2. My
husband, raised on Sesame Street, has been straining at the leash
to introduce Maddie to some of his favorite childhood memories, and
her second birthday presents included more than one DVD.


Now that she’s over the magic age, we are slowly allowing her
to watch select programs. And at this point, I have to confess that
I didn’t watch much Sesame Street growing up: I was in ballet
class after school from a pretty early age and missed the whole
“kid t.v.” thing. And since one of our television rules
is that a parent has to sit and watch with Maddie rather than using
the t.v. as a babysitter, I’m getting exposed to Sesame
Street for the first time as well.

There’s this Carpenters song called
“Sing”, which apparently the cast of Sesame Street
covered as well. Maddie’s Nana has been singing it to Maddie
and for her birthday my daughter got a DVD with that segment on it.
Brian, clearly walking down memory lane, eagerly put that segment
on and we settled in to watch.


So the piece starts out with Big Bird singing wistfully by himself,
and suddenly a bunch of other people show up and it’s a big
love fest. Apparently Sesame Street gets a lot of big guest stars
on the show, and for this segment they had Ladysmith Black Mambazo
(the African group Paul Simon and Lifesavers commercials made
famous) come out and join in with the song. And if that
weren’t enough, a very young Savion Glover pops out in the
middle and does a tap break.


First off, Ladysmith Black Mambazo is one of my favorite groups. I
adore watching them perform –they are so full of joy and
energy and life. So right away I’m drawn in, and I
can’t stop thinking how great it is to see them singing about
the importance of having a song in your heart and not being afraid
to sing it. And then Savion does his thing and I melt a little
more, so excited at the multicultural/multi-genre nature of this
artistic production. But then little Elmo pops up, sings a sweet
little solo, and smiles at a little girl who puts her arm around
him.


And I tear up. I can’t help it. I have this huge Kumbaya
moment when everyone’s trying to make the world a better
place, and for a minute, on that little street called Sesame, it
actually is, and I start blubbering.


Yes, my name is Jennifer, and I cried at Sesame Street.