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!

My Last Thankful List of September!

I feel like it's been forever since my last post, but this past week at work pretty much took me out of all of normal life (more on that later). So here it is, the last "Thankful Thursday" list of September in all it's glory!

1) Fate and a Change of Flight! - So you all remember how I was so saddened about how I was going to miss Jaxon's first day of school???? Well, as luck, or fate would have it, I had to change my flight out to LA and the IHG Investors/Owners Conference, so I didn't have to leave until Monday morning. Which means, I was able to see Jaxon off Monday morning and see him before his first official day of Pre-K!!! I truly don't know who was more excited, him or me! Typical first day of fall here in Utah of course brought with it a horrific rain storm so we had to change-up and dress him in one of his warmer uniforms! I didn't mind all that much! He looked adorable and he couldn't wait to see his "Mssess. Millrer" again! And god bless these teachers and administrators for even trying to hold school in these circumstances. The new building is still not available, so they had to hold the first three days in pitched tents at the park next door. And the rest of the week they were able to secure the old school, move enough furniture back in, and that's where the kids will be until the end of next week. And Jaxon wouldn't know any different! Truly! He was oblivious! Chris said he loved every minute of every day! They even pulled off two field trips! Pretty impressive for a difficult first week! Kudos to his school!

2) Great Successes! I mentioned that work took me out of all normal life this past week. After 15 years with IHG, I attended my first ever annual Investors and Owners Conference in LA. Distribution Marketing had two large days planned, the usual trade show, but then my group had planned a one-day training workshop for about 60 hotels. This was held the day before the trade show. My team and I have been putting this together for the past three months and have put so many hours into this and had so much riding on it's success. We all arrived on Monday afternoon and began practicing that afternoon. We went all evening, again all day and evening Tuesday, and then Wednesday was our big day! It was a huge Smash! I was so thrilled with the outcome! We had all but 5 hotels show up and the participation and engagement was stellar! The feedback and reception from the hotels was more than we expected. It was awesome! The team was on a great high! We of course celebrated that night by taking the team to dinner at Roy's! Thursday was the trade show, and again, another HUGE success! So many hours of preparation and work paid off! We spoke to hundreds of hoteliers for about 10 hours non-stop and came away with far more success than we had expected! I don't remember being on my feet or walking as much as I did in that four days than I have in a very long time! And I am still recovering! But it was all worth it! And felt so awesome to see all of our work pay off in so many great ways!

3) Premiere Week!!!! Must See TV Week, National Stay Home Week, or just plain ol' best week of the year Week, however you want to label it, this is by far my favorite week of every year, and it absolutely was KILLING ME that I was in LA missing nearly ALL of it! THANK THE HEAVENS AND STARS above for DVR! I don't want to even relive the nightmarish days of VCR tapes and scheduled recording times, and having to be home to hit record, and only be able to "tape" ONE show at a time! Holy Hannah, how did we survive in such archaic times!

So, I could not be happier about having my DWTS back! But man, my Monday's are so full and complicated with that, Raising the Bar (TNT), and now the very BACK and HOT Heroes! Hello! So first seasonish! and Scary! Mr. Kring has got his groove back on! Mommie Dearest is a freak and someone has seriously got to do that girl in!

Biggest Loser Families...Love sitting on my couch watching those people losing weight! So inspiring! Oh wait, maybe I should put that one on the DVR in my work-out room! HA! And Law & Order, SVU! Hello! Love it! Luke Perry, what a rotten little man you turned out to be! Sick!

Americas Got Talent! I don't care how many of you think Hasselhoff is a freak, I agree, but the show rocks! And the finals were awesome! And I can't wait to see our sweet brothers from the Bronx win! BTW...back to DWTS since it was on three nights in a row, is anyone else bugged by Susan Lucci???? Is she always that weird???? Can we vote her off next? I love Maks!

Thursdays are my favorite day of the week with The Office...so stinking funny! Liposuction anyone? And poor Toby! Will that guy every get a break? And of course, Grey's Anatomy! HOTDREAMY! I could not be more happy about Uncle Sam, aka. LT. Hunt! Yeah, he was on NBC's Journeyman, but they cancelled that show, stupid suckers! But I guess we reap the benefits and I get see him live on in this role! Woo Hoo! Go Christina!

And next week there are more shows coming on...and well more to record through DVR! Oh my!

4) ER! This one gets it's own spot! I have watched this show for 14-years now. I can't say that I am thankful that this is it's last! I can't imagine not watching Thursday night ER! But I have absolutely loved this show! And as Chris is always saying, they are a part of my family because I have a difficult time separating fiction from reality! So to say the least, on the season opener and the death of Dr. Pratt, I nearly lost my mind! I have "HAD" to watch it three times now. Once in LA, once upon returning home with Chris and Cyd, and once with Abbie and Connor. All three times resulting in the same break-down! I don't think it's been that bad for me since Dr. Greene died of his brain tumor! Wow! Anyway, I am truly hoping the show's producers are not intending on putting me through this kind of emotional turmoil every show this last season! Nonetheless, I love it!

5) The Fall!!! This is my favorite time of year! And I am so excited it is finally here! I love the change in the air. The crispness in the air. I love the excitement in the air from the start of school. The changing of the color of leaves and the falling of those leaves! Halloween! Thanksgiving! All of it! This is the best time of the year! Hope you all are going to enjoy it as much as we are planning on to!