Meet Carol, TV teammate extraordinaire
Imagineyourself in one of those adventure races - with orienteering challenges,cross-country running, kayaking, maybe a touch of horseback-riding and cycling. Now imagine how much harder this wouldbe with a partner you can't stand — the hidden resentments, the one-upmanship,the stubborn lack of cooperation. Then… envisionthe relief of being spurred on past your limits by someone you inherently knewand trusted. Huge difference, huh? Okay, so the metal chairs we were sitting in weren't really going anywhere, but still,it sure felt like Carol and I were onsome kind of journey together. On Monday, we filmed our first TV interview and I know we can both say, unequivocally,thank god we had each other!! It's not often you can turn to someone andsay, from the heart: if you weren't foryou, I think I would have peed in my pants.
We trained hardand well before the big day.
When itcame to going over "talking points", discussing what we were going towear, the particulars of how much make-up or not, well, we just… didn't. We took refuge in the blurry fog of denial. We were just getting together for tea,right? Along with her three year-old son,Jacob, and my 17 year-old daughter, Sophie; hanging out on the playscape in thebackground. Plus someone we'd never met beforeasking us questions about our lives and a camera in our faces. Justanother day in the neighborhood. Weshared a good chortle over this (any opportunity to use the word 'chortle') andthen, lamented that in many ways, the outcome was out of our hands. We were going to come across as we would. Spastic, dork-like, inarticulate. So be it. We had no choice but to beourselves, that simpering adage that people fall back on when really, they'vegot nothing else.
Elizabeth the Reporterwas warm and friendly and Steve the Cameraman was polite and reassuringlybored, but it was disconcerting that we were going to be interviewedseparately. What? We wouldn't get toturn to each other when we got stumped or were mangling our words, letting theother person run with the ball?
I wentfirst. I was excruciatinglyself-conscious of the fact that I couldn't find a comfortable way to sitwithout hurting my back (newly broken rib). I crammed my purse behind me, held myself upright and tried to keep myeyes on Elizabeth,as instructed. Because I was attemptingto keep perfectly still, I barely used my hands to talk, and I'm one of thosehorrible hand-people. This threw me off even further and Istruggled mentally to stay focused. Godonly knows what the final piece will look like. Here I had been worrying about coming across like an excitable sparrowand I was probably closer to a ventriloquist's dummy.
Luckily, Carolsaved the day.
Whereas she tends to bethe more introverted of the two of us, she seemed downright in her element during her interview—laughing, smiling, telling funny stories. She was clear, calm and confident. (Am I smelling a new career?) I felt a bit like a peeping Jane, listeningto her describe the evolution of our relationship to someone else. After our individual stints,they got a few shots of all of us sitting at the table together, eating anddrinking like normal people and taking a walk down by the pond.
All in all, it was pretty painless, thanks toElizabeth, who was endlessly patient while helpfully prodding, and Steve, whoseemed to enjoy zooming in on the littleham that is Jacob. (Thanks so muchto both of you, and to HEB for letting us shoot on their property at CentralMarket.)
I've saidit before and it still holds, when our two families come together, even if it'snot all of us, there's the feeling of pieces of a whole reuniting. I never had a sister, but Carol feels likeone to me. We both knew that the otherwas scared shitless, but we also knew that if we were in it together, everything would come out alright in the end. Even if it had been a total disaster (which,come to think about it, remains to be seen!), we would have gotten a good laughout of it. And I mean more than a chortle.
So if youfeel like rubbernecking, tune in this coming Monday, May 12 on the five o'clocknews for KEYE, CBS channel 42, and see for yourself!
© 2008 Jennifer Newcomb Marine All Rights Reserved
