Sex And The City

I had a difficult week, dealing with bureaucracy (my senior year in college), the failure of my CPA and my son started high school.  Today the bug man came while I was in my office with a client, and my cat was unaccounted for, the last in a line of frustrations. My cat is about 13, we are not really sure, but I am sure if he died from poisoning I would be really upset.  That cat and I are kindred spirits. I knew the first time I saw him. The bug man was early, can you believe it? He was a half an hour early. Tonight, tattered as I was, I was flipping through the channels and I came up on Sex And the City. It was on the E shows channel, so it wasn't one of the movies but the original show.  Not only was it the show but the last 1 1/2 hours of the shows original run.

I do not claim to have much in common with Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), except earlier in my life, I had a group of good friends. Unlike Carrie, my group grew apart years ago, but I remember that time in my life with great joy. I felt about them,  like she did about her friends. My city was Portland, Oregon, not NYC.  Again when I was young it felt great. So I know that my guides are watching out for me when it comes on tv. It is like a rich dessert. Sex And The City feels like it can cure everything, as if that show was meant for me.  Ok, maybe me and 10,000,000 others in the world. Tonight though, it was for me.

Big (Chris Noth) has comeback to NYC and Carrie Bradshaw. He says he has something to tell her. Carrie says she has had enough, that 6 years later it is still the same. Carrie goes to Paris France with Alexander Petrosky (my all time favorite ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov). She is alone with out her friends. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and her wonderful Harry (Evan Handler) are trying to adopt a baby, without a lot of support from the universe, Harry says he thinks, "God has forgotten our address."  To which Charlotte replies, "We're Jews, we have been through a lot worse."  Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) mother-in-law, Mary (all time great comedienne), Anne Meara, has had a stroke and comes to live with Miranda, Steve (David Eigenberg)and little Brady.  Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is recovering from breast cancer, and is insistent that her actor boyfriend, Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis), can have sex on location if he wants to. He does not want to. Later Samantha tells him not to when he sends her crocus bulbs. He tells her that she will recover in spring, and he is waiting for spring. We see Samantha grow in her ability to share intimacy.  I think he is her best boyfriend of all time.

In Paris, Alexander is consumed with his exhibit that includes a light demonstration.  He keeps telling Carrie, "when the exhibit is over"(a line his ex-wife says drove her crazy), they will have more time together. Carrie meets some of her fans, who want to throw her a party. It is the same night as the curators at the art museum want to examine Alexander's exhibit. So Carrie sacrifices her party, only to be ignored by him. They later fight, she leaves him and runs into Big, who has come to take her home.  On the bridge over the river Seine, he tells Carrie "she's the one".

The last few scenes revolve around the 4 women back in NYC in a restaurant, and the show finishes as they walk down the streets of Manhattan. My response to that show is always the same. Whenever I have a bad day, or a difficult time in my life, I can be guaranteed whether, it is the show, or one of the movies, when it is done, I have been with wonderful group, of interesting and loving women. When it is over, I am regenerated, and have my enthusiasm for life back on track!! Of all my favorite shows, this is definitely in the top 10, top 5 if we are talking feel good shows.