Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged and in fact one of my blogging friends, Rebecca Klempner has been coaxing me, “what’s up, Miriam? You haven’t blogged lately. Is everything okay?”

And truth be told, everything is quite okay thank G-d, and I’m feeling joyous and excited and busy for the upcoming holiday when our extended families will be together.

In the  midst of all the things I’ve been doing this week in preparing for the Passover holiday, I happened to read in the news that Valerie (Rhoda)  Harper, the actress is terminally ill.  Before I hear all the young ‘uns (non-grandmothers) asking “Who is Valerie Harper,” let me ‘splain.

Valerie Harper is a 73- year old actress who played the television character Rhoda Morgenstern in the 1970’s  situation comedy “Mary Tyler Moore.”  Rhoda was Mary’s Jewish and New York-ish neighbor who was funny, warm and full of energy and great one-liners. After much success on the Mary show, Valerie earned her own spin-off show, “Rhoda” which was also a great success.

Some may wonder why a fan would get so involved in the personal life of a television actress, let alone an actress who was in her heyday over thirty years ago. Although Harper has had other roles – even a theater one recently in a play called “Looped,” her Rhoda character was her main claim to fame.

What was the reason that so many people loved Rhoda?

The friendship between two seemingly opposite personalities was one that was broadcast across the television screens (back when television was kosher with benign and appropriate entertainment), with Mary – the consummate polite, proper and all-American single woman playing alongside her foil of Rhoda, the shoot-from-the-hip, blunt New Yorker.

Still both of them had heart, love, warmth and humor – qualities that audiences related to.

Rhoda’s joyous personality on the show seems to be the same as her real persona. Her going public about her illness has made the news and people seem to be inspired by her attitude.

Here are some quotes by Valerie Harper, spoken in interviews and written up   in articles during the past week, since she announced her illness.

“Keep your chin up and don’t go to the funeral, mine or yours or your loved ones, until the day of the funeral because then you miss the life that you have left.”

“Death is out there for all of us….There’s other ways to handle it than just sit on the couch and accept.”

“I have had a magnificent run — the most wonderful husband in the world for 34 years, a great career…I really look at my life as blessed.”

I chose to dedicate this blog post to Ms. Harper, someone who has given so many hours of laughter and joy to this writer – back in the 1970’s, when life was so much less complicated. Television was clean and watching two good friends and their antics was just enough for us teenagers and young adults to have a great time. That was all we needed  to keep us going in between math problems of our homework (that we were supposed to be doing, but shhhh don’t tell.)

We are in this world to live, learn and grow each day. Learn from others and try to incorporate their positive attitudes.

If Ms. Harper is coming and telling us all this when she is sick, let’s grab that lesson.

This is for real. This is not Rhoda, or Mary or any of the other characters on those funny shows. This is a real person telling us some real advice.

I say that whether you are Jewish like Rhoda or Italian like Valerie, …listen to it. It makes lots of good sense.

Here’s to a joyous Passover or Easter or whatever my readers are celebrating.

Photo Credit: crazyabouttv.com