Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Evidently my daughter can… (shh…it’s very near the Metropolitan Opera House).  She and her daughters were taped for upcoming Sesame Street episodes:  Emma dances an Irish Jig;  Melissa and Eliza demonstrate “skin” as Mel puts a band-aid on Eliza’s skinned knee;  Emma and Eliza demonstrate “jump”;  and several more short sketches that they’ll mix for the fall season.

I’m just thrilled about this news, but also verry nostalgic.   It’s just that…well, let me take you back to Melissa’s early childhood.  I was a single mom, working as a waitress (not at a cocktail bar, though, ’cause honey you can get your own damn drink).  At the particular time I’m remembering, Melissa was going to pre-school/daycare at Evansville Christian School and we were living over in Carriage House Apartments.  I’d work the 11-2 lunch shift, pick Melissa up from daycare, and a group of friends would meet up over at our apartment to watch Sesame Street at 3.  It was original cast, with adults like Luis, Buffy, Mr. Hooper, Gordon and the Most Amazing Muppets–Kermit, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, The Count, and my especial favorite:  Grover, in all of his incarnations.

We’ve come a long way, baby.  Now my daughter lives in Manhattan, raising beautiful girls and singing for her supper, living her dream…   And I just think back to the days of Jim Henson and those long-ago days when he and Frank Oz and all the other muppeteers at the Children’s Television Workshop created a place where every child felt at home, where  you  were encouraged to do your own thing and still be part of the neighborhood, where an imaginary friend could turn out to be real.

Here’s The Quintessential Grover the Waiter episode, if you have time to watch…