TV

We all watch it. Well most of us. We have become so spoiled with todays technology no one really watches regular tv at all. DVR's and TiVo have changed our lives. Our very good friend Peter was the first person we knew that had a TiVo and he regularly gave us an infomercial whenever we went to their house for some tv watching. We were soon sold. Somehow from our love of tv we ended forming a life time bond with our friend Peter and his wife and another couple who also had a love of tv as insatiable as ours.
The bond started when I was surfing reruns (pre TiVo) and came across a show called Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I introduced my husband to it and we were hooked. Silly but true. When I say it changed our life I really mean it. We soon found out some other friends were also fans and decided to have dinner and watch the show. They then asked if their friends could come along too. So in September of 2002 Buffy Night was born! We had dinner every Tuesday or Wednesday for the next 8 years. With a few exceptions for births and a small bout of cancer, we did it every week.  Yes, every week!
Some weeks were all out gourmet and others were takeout and beer. Most involved tv especially Buffy, until its sad demise. Then we watched other things like American Idol and other crap but as the years went by tv moved into the background and life took over. We all had babies first one couple then we all had babies at the same time. Over the years the conversation evolved from tv to the houses we bought, then to the weddings we were planning, then to cervixes, vaginas and stretch marks, then to poop and pee and kids kids kids. We all grew into a family the kids acting like cousins the parents like aunts and uncles. We had a few joiners on the way and they were most welcome but the core group were faithful to the Buffy.
Sadly in February my husband and I broke up the group! We made the difficult decision to move across country away from our Buffy family. Strangely the TiVo we had had since the first Buffy dinners died on the move to NY. I think we broke its heart. I wish there were a way to keep that ever faithful weekly routine both for the great conversations and delicious food but it is not to be for now. I miss Sandy's baked meat and would love to relive the dinner where Peter made a collection of soft food (by accident). I was constantly inspired to cook amazing food for these amazing friends because it made them as happy to eat it as it did for me to cook it.
So Buffy gave me my surrogate family for the last 8 years... thanks tv!