Fulfilling Childhood Dreams--It Can Happen

I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams today: I met Lindsay Wagner.  For those born in the '80's and may not know, Lindsay Wagner is THE Bionic Woman (the original series, not the probably-off-the-air-by-now recent remake of it).  Of all the super-women fighting crime in the 70's and 80's, my favorite super-woman of all time was The Bionic Woman.  I mean, Wonder Woman was cool and all with her magic lasso and invisible plane, but come on, with boobs that big, I couldn't relate.  Charlie's Angels were cool too, but it took three of them to get the job done, while the Bionic Woman kicked ass on her own.  I found the story compelling: a skydiving accident left her paralyzed, but she "rose from the ashes" (so to speak) to become the bionic woman and save the world.  It was her second chance at life, and she used it to do good.  Plus, I loved Max, the bionic dog.

I know this is probably the geekiest blog you've ever read, but let me take you back to my childhood for a moment so you understand where I'm coming from.  As I mentioned in a prior blog, my family came to the U.S. with not much more than the clothes on our backs.  Both my parents worked around the clock in order to feed their five kids.  So I did what most latchkey kids do, which is watch television.   Say what you will about the evils of television, in my case TV was my English teacher, my babysitter, my escape from poverty.  

So I loved the Bionic Woman because she was a survivor.  And I'm sure that deep down in my subconscious then--young as I was--was this hope that you do get second chances in life and use your powers for good.  I needed to believe that because as refugees, we were lucky to get that second chance in the U.S.

Anyway, the event that I attended today was the Women In Film's Malibu breakfast.  Lindsay Wagner was the guest speaker.  After her talk, I chatted with her briefly and even took a blurry picture from my cell phone.  My childhood idol was the Bionic Woman, but Lindsay Wagner is even more amazing in person.  Wow.