Saying Good-Bye to a Dear Old Friend

Tonight was the Series Finale of ER. After 15, wonderful, medical-drama filled years, one of television's best dramas went off the air. I watched for three hours tonight, crying every minute of it, and every time I looked at the clock, I dreaded every minute that passed by. This final

show was incredible, if not cruel, because it left you wanting more! It wasn't some stupid-ass'd ending like everyone dying in a bloodbath, or the hospital blowing up, or Heaven Forbid a "Sopranos" Black-Screen Close out. Nope, this was truly perfect. The producer, John Wells, wanted to pay homage to Michael Crighton, who passed away just a few months ago, by recreating the Pilot show. And they did it brilliantly! I loved every minute of it!

Watching the recap show the first hour was so emotional for me. I know you are all laughing at me right this second for being so distraught over this, but there isn't an episode they recapped that I hadn't seen, nor that didn't remind me of so many aspects of my life in the past 15 years. Think about it....I watched every last episode, and have probably seen most of them two or three other times in syndication...and I've had quite the life in 15-years.

I am often teased about my "little" obsessions in life, but no one can accuse me of not being loyal! I remember so many nights racing around town and in my life freaking out over the VCR not being set to record. Or the cable going out. Or having to work through major episodes. Or even worse, being forced to wait three whole months until the fall premiere came on and we would get to see what happened next. Seriously, how did we survive without TiVo???!!!!????

I cry at anything, but I found that my relatability to the script evolved as my life did. For instance, as I became a wife or mother, any and every episode having to do with the mom dying I couldn't handle. Or episodes involving pre-mature babies, or little kids suffering and dying some awful disease...Yeah just shoot me! But also, I loved these characters...and their messed up lives, their successes, and their tragedies, always hit home to me.

So here are some of my favorite moments that I have recollected this evening, my little homage to ER:

Favorite Couple:

1st place will always be Dr. Ross Nurse Hathaway! However coming in a an extremely close 2nd... Dr. Kovac and Dr. Lockhart!

And in third place...Dr. Gates and Nurse Taggat!

Favorite Couple Moments: SOOOO Many, so so many!

1) Doug and Carol FINALLY getting together, on her exit episode!

2) Carol showing up in the desert to be with Doug after his father died....their "coming out" episode!

3) Abby's and Luka's wedding vows! Cried like a baby!

4) Abby and Luka deciding to stay together...on Luka's last episode!

5) Sam and Tony...holding hands as she thanks him for all he's done for her and Alex...on tonight's final episode! Freakin A'...I was gonna throw down if I didn't get my happy ending there!

Favorite Dr. Benton Moments: Yeah, he gets his own category! He was the BEST surgeon and there hasn't been one since him that can measure up!

1) Saving Carter after he was stabbed by the psychotic skitzo on Valentine's Day (yeah, this is by far one of my favorite episodes and I have seen this one probably the most out of all of the episodes!)

2) Not being able to save his own nephew from a gunshot wound! Wow!! It was awesome to watch his vulnerability being put out there!

3) Being able to communicate with his deaf son for the first time!

4) And saving Carter, once again, as a reckless, if not cocky surgeon nearly destroys the new kidney that Carter was receiving that would save his life!

Favorite Cliff Hangers:

1) The absolute best one EVER, was when the ER gets shot up and Jerry is being worked on, and Abby who is 6 months pregnant, collapses from being shot herself, and Luka, who was temporarily crippled by the assailants, was tied down to a gurney in the next room, unable to scream for help, nor get to Abby who just started hemorrhaging next door, and Sam has been kidnapped by said assailants, aka, psycho ex-husband and is being taken out of Chicago! WHEW...that exhausted me just thinking about it again!

2) Carter being stabbed by a psychotic college student, falling to the ground, only to see Lucy, his intern, lying on the floor with a slit throat! OMH!!!! Yeah, that was the longest week of my life!!!!!

3) Dr. Carter leaving Luka in South Africa and we don't know if Luka is going to be safe, or captured, or what!!!!!! Totally stressful!

4) As recent as last season, the ambulance blowing up and we don't know which doc is in the ambulance or if they are still alive!

5) Dr. Greene letting a serial killer die in the elevator instead of saving his life!

6) Neela showing up to see that Ray had been hit by a truck and had both of his legs amputated! WTH?!?!?!

Most Heart-wrenching deaths:UGH...this is just going to have to be a three-way tie!!!!

1) Dr. Greene dying from a brain tumor, on the island of Hawaii with his wife and two daughters! I was so emotionally distraught from this episode, I put in for a funeral day at work! (I'm not joking!)

2) Lucy dying from having her throat slit. Sounds obvious right??? But no, they worked on her for what seemed like forever, and then they made it sound like she was out of the woods, and then that darned PE (Pulmonary Embolism) happened, and no matter what Robert or Alex did, they couldn't save her. I cry every time I watch as Robert throws the surgical tools across the room and races back to her open chest cave and tries to restart her heart again!

3) Dr. Pratt dying from the Ambulance explosion. This was the first episode of this last and final season, and I seriously couldn't take it! When they pronounced him, and then showed everyone's reaction as they wheeled him through the ER for the last time, I LOST IT! Well I had been crying long before then, but that REALLY did me in!

Other Favorite Episodes: (In no particular order)

1) Doug saving the boy trapped in a flood/tunnel!

2) Robert getting his arm chopped off by a helicopter!

3) Doug and Carol assisting a mother in the death of her dying son.

4) Dr. Greene being broken hearted and left on the L-Train Platform as Susan leaves Chicago.

5) Dr. Benton taking Dr. Carter personally and checking him into rehab. BFF's!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could probably sit here all night remembering different episodes, but I won't. And if you're still reading this, well then, either you enjoy my ramblings and are just using this as more material to tease me with...or, maybe, just maybe, you at some point were an ER fan also and didn't mind going down memory lane with me!