Making It After All

Gentle Reader,

 I can't express how much I love this little sequence.

This is a great show opener for a couple of reasons.  For one, it doesn't fall into the trap of using random, out of context clips from various episodes in place of a more substantive opening.  I HATE opening sequences like that, even though just about every show I grew up with used them.  They don't convey any of the meat of the story or characters, and it's just lazy all around.

This sequence is the polar opposite of that.  It's amazing how much is conveyed in a 45 second montage.  Mary is moving away and starting a new career.  She's leaving behind everybody she knows, and they're going to miss her, but they're also happy for her.  Upon arrival in the big city, Mary is overawed by her new surroundings.  Time goes by, and it starts to sink in that this really is her new life.  By the time she realizes it, she loves the way her life is going.  She's made it.

Who wouldn't want to feel like that, just 30 years old and embarking upon an exciting new chapter?  I felt like this when I had a huge promotion just a few months after my 30th birthday.  Now, three years later, I feel like that again.  I feel like things are going great for me, in work and also with my personal creative endeavors.  It's easy to get sidetracked or discouraged, but in my better moments, I feel excited.  I feel just like Mary does in this clip.

Will I make it after all?  Well, I guess I don't know yet.  But hope and optimism sure are preferable to the alternatives.  Best of luck to all of us.

Ever Yours,
Fauntleroy