It was a weekend night. I was 18 years old, and I was faithfully taping every MacGyver episode. Nothing could interrupt that. Nothing. Handsome, eligible young men who wanted to take me out on dates were nothing compared to MacGyver.
My handsome, eligible date phoned me up that afternoon and invited me out on some evening jaunt.
I said no. I must have come up with some excuse. Girls of 18 are usually quite good at that.
No mere man was going to come between me and MacGyver.
Later that evening I smugly put the tape in and pressed record and sat down to enjoy an hour of MacGyverisms.
That's when the handsome, eligible young man's car pulled into the driveway.
I rushed outside to shoo him away before he could see why I had turned him down.
He tried to persuade me to go with him, and in spite of the fact that he'd driven halfway across the city, I felt no guilt as I stubbornly told him no, I wasn't going to go with him. And what's more, I resented the time in having to explain this while I missed my favourite programme.
I think the relationship fizzled out after that. But I didn't care. He was a non-starter, anyway.
Now my children are in love with MacGyver. And the boys want pocket knives.
I hesitated a little at getting them these tiny pk's, but after all they just want to pull apart clocks and cupboards and trucks with them, and destroy the keyholes in my doors. And lately I've been amazed to discover that a very old-fashioned cliche still survives. The small boy's pocket. Full of string, candy, paper, pencil and a pocket knife. It is to my peril to not check the pockets before I throw their jeans in the wash.
We lost one of these precious items once, and tears followed, so now they are in a safe place and under parental control. I can just see them pulling them out to show their grandkids when the're 80 years old.
MacGyver
Every boy wants to be him. Every girl wants to marry him.
7 comments :
He definitely isn't and know for a fact that my hubby can't wait until Monkey is old enough to watch it and start doing experiments.
Great post.
I remember one of my kids crying the one time we missed an episode because we had to be somehwere. I mean the sad, silent, heartbroken crying. Ole Gus MacGyver. The first episode we ever saw, he was climbing a cliff to save an eagle.
Oh yes - my first crush! Oh how I loved MacGyver!
I'm sorry, but when I hear a story like this, I immediately think of Selma and Patty on the Simpsons who have a MacGyver fetish!
LOL Cate! I have never watched the Simpsons so I didn't know about Selma and Patty.
My children love watching the reruns. They used to be "instant view" on the internet so they really wanted to watch them right after the other. I have to admit that the first seasons were definitely better than later ones. I liked it better when he was a "spy" and not so much the environmentalist.
Fun memories!
Ginny E
Bear Grylls is the MacGyver for the 2000's just as entertaining but carrying a flint and eating every bug he finds
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