Memories

I think it was my 2nd or 3rd year in college. I went to college in the South of The Netherlands, of course a very small country, but to go back to my hometown took 2 1/2 hours by train. Too much for me to go back every weekend. Many students did go back over the weekend, so partying was done during the week (big nights were Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday when every one comes back from wherever they were). The weekends were to relax, and many Friday nights I spend with my friend Henk Jan, Henkie as I call him, cooking together, drinking and watch some TV. Some nice bonding time. Also, not as in America, Friday is the Prime Time night for TV, not Thursday.
So many memories from the last 15 years came back last night: the final episode of ER. Those Friday nights in college, my friend and I watched ER. I always joked with him about how much he looked like Dr. Greene. 15 Years later, college is long gone and over, Henkie is still my friend who has visited me in Peru and in LA where I have been now for 9 years! He has 3 kids now, and such a different life we thought we would be going for. But he’s happy, life takes it course. We always discussed life, our goals, our friends, everything.
My friend Gaby in Amsterdam started getting into ER late, a couple of seasons in. Whenever I visited her, we watch it together…episodes already aired in the US, but some I hadn’t seen, and the ones I did, I tried to shut my mouth, not to give too much away. When we call or chat when I’m back in LA, at some point she has to stop our conversation cause ER was about to come on:) Oh, good times…
I watched every episode of ER for at least the first 5/6 seasons or so. After that, I watched the show once in a while. When I lived in Florida, the ER hour was sacred to me. My first couple of years in LA, taped, yes on VCR, all episodes, and I’ve I forgot, I asked my roommate to set it to record. When I lived in Hollywood I did have cable, so with the lousy antenna, I still watched ER. Moving to LA as an actor, it was really my biggest dream to appear on ER, even if it was as an extra. Didn’t happen, but I got close! Close to the Stage where the show was shot.
The last couple of seasons I was just not that into it anymore, and stopped taping the show. Sometimes I would pick it up, but not religiously as I used to watch every episode. But the last couple of weeks I started taping ER again, cause after 15 years the show came to and end…last night, the final 2 hour series finale of ER, after an hour long back to memory lane with many clips and interviews with former cast members. A few tears shed, but mostly thought of good times came to mind, the memories I associate with the show. I know what you’re thinking “hey, come on, it’s just a TV show!”, and yes, that’s true, but I have good memories watching ER, alone, with friends, in The Netherlands, in Florida and in LA. I might have seen a couple of episodes in Spanish in Peru! Now that my life has reached a powerful and exciting crossroad, the end of ER, was a beautiful trip down to memory lane, and a look forward to what’s coming up in the near future!
R.I.P. ER!