People. People who need People....

Well, I have learned to become a dog person after many years spent living as a strictly cat lover. But really what I am is a "people" person. I'm not just talking about people who flit in and out of your life whenever it suits their needs. I'm speaking about the people who stay with you through thick and thin, for, let's say 35 years.

Rain, or shine, sleet or hail, my People magazine, always comes in the mail!

I know, I know. You thought I was the uber-intellectual who, after a brief foray into the bodice-ripper world, dedicated herself to "serious" literature. Afterall, I AM a book club participant! I can't help it! I love my People magazine. I consider it my "junk food for the brain". I started reading it when it first was published when I was in college and needed a break from those hated textbooks - Economics - ugh. Each week I'd slink into the Student Union and pick up the latest issue and then spend about an hour revelling in the glory of celebrity and pop culture.

After Mr. Tennis and I got married he fed my addiction by giving me a year's subscription each year. What a treat to get my fix delivered to my door.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, thirty-five years of People consumption has led me to store useless trivia facts in my head. I tend to blurt them out and give myself away in social settings. For instance, about a year into our book club existence I was talking to one of my fellow Bookies about some pop culture nonsense. From across the room, one of the other members, says, "You sound like you read People Magazine". Everyone in the room froze and all eyes turned to me. I was faced with a dilema. Do I admit it? Sully my reputation as "above such things" and spill the dirty little secret that I'm a pop culture junkie and avid People reader?

I spilled. Then I went one step further and said, "I love People magazine". The lady who posed the question said that she only "looked through it" when she was at the hairdresser and once, when she brought in her neighbor's mail, she "glanced" at a couple of articles. I felt like I had just admitted I read dirty magazines. Then, I ran into another friend at the grocery store and it somehow slipped that I had read something in People and she did a quick intake of breath and said, "No, you DO NOT read People"! What in the world was wrong with these people? Other friends knew that I partook of the People and one in particular has been the beneficiary of the castoffs for 15 years. I had never been judged for my pop culture fetish before.

To take it further, both ladies were at a gathering a couple of weeks later and it was brought up again: "Well, she should know, she reads People". I had never considered my "habit" to be something of a scandal, but apparently I am scandalous! How very celebrity and pop culture of me!

Since I have come out of the People Magazine closet, I have admitted other indiscretions to my fellow book club attendees. These admissions must pale in comparison because hardly anyone batted an eye when I said I really enjoy reality television and thought nothing of watching "The Housewives of Orange County" when I could. I even heard a few murmurs from some of them saying they have "caught" an episode or two. Now, talk about scandalous, that show is full of scandal not to mention all it's spinoffs which I know they are watching too.

Well, the shock has worn off over time and I am accepted for what I am. In fact, if anyone wants to know a random fact about theatre, movies, a book, a famous person or just a regular person, who do they look to for the answer? That's right, I have become the go-to gal for movie reviews, the latest best sellers' info or an update on Survivor (my first reality show) and American Idol. So, I guess I have neither been voted off the island or eliminated from the competition.

However, even though I love my People, I love my real people, my family, who always accept me for who I am. Awwwwww.

Guess you can tell I finally figured out how to link pictures from the internet :-)