Praise the Lord and Pass the Afikoman*

Rev Run and family in the church of Oprah

Happy Passover, everyone!!

Due to my mother's comings and goings, as well as the flaming pit of hellfire and damnation that my life will be for the next month (Actually, the next three months, but I'd like to keep my sleep medication to over-the-counter strength so I'm attempting to take it one month at a time.), I was unable to attend the seder I had been invited to, which is too bad cuz I'm really good at that part where you stick your pinkie in your wine ten times and drip the Manischewitz on to your plate to represent the ten plagues. I have been known to flick the cough syrup...er, wine...at whomever is seated next to me, for which I have been reprimanded on several occasions. What can I say? Seders are long. I gotta keep myself entertained.

But since tonight I am not seated at a table full of hungry Jews (I told you, seders are long), what better way to celebrate my peeps' exodus from ancient Egypt than to watch a TIVOed Oprah interview with my beloved Rev Run and family? Oprah is nothing if not god-like and Rev Run, well, I think you know of my unwavering faith in the Rev. So really, the evening was very religious for me.

Actually, although my mother's schedule prohibited my eating gefilte fish this evening, which is too bad because I could inhale the stuff, it was my mother who informed me of Rev's appearance on today's Oprah. She had never heard of him before Saturday, when I spent a large portion of our dinner time reciting just about everything I'd ever heard in every episode of Run's House that I'd ever seen. She actually seemed fairly amused, considering she had no idea who he was (She's almost seventy and as uber hip and cool as she is, Run DMC has never been on her radar. She totally knows about Justin Timberlake though. She likes to remind me that Alpha Dog got crappy reviews. Fair enough.). Then, yesterday, she saw a commercial for today's Oprah, on which, lo and behold, Rev was to be interviewed with his brood. There's a name for that phenomenon--you know, when you've never heard of something and then once you know about it, it seemingly pops up everywhere, which makes a lot of sense in this case since the new season of Run's House premieres next Monday. Amen and Hallelujah!

Before I sat down to watch Oprah, I had decided that I wanted tonight's writing to be about inspiration. It's an important holiday and with this weekend's Work Out post having been a bit of a downer because I was in a bit of a funk (absolute melt down and freak out is more like it), I felt like I needed to turn things around. I'd worked myself into a frenzy of panic every night for the past few nights (hence the over-the-counter sleep aids) and the only thing that calmed me down was watching episodes of Run's House. But by the time the TV was off and the lights were out, my brain was a frenetic mess all over again.

So tonight, on this holy night, I looked to Rev Run for help again.

One of the first questions Oprah asked was why Rev wanted to allow cameras in his home. He said that he wanted to show people his family's life "to lead by example and to inspire." Bingo!

I often ask myself why I can't seem to get enough of Run's House. Of course, I love the family antics because they make me laugh out loud, and yes, I love Rev and Russell Simmons because their drive and ambition are awesome, and yes, I love how much everyone seems to love each other, but what's odd is that I'm generally turned off by practiced religion (probably the cause of the wine flicking), to which the Rev is so wholly devoted. And certainly Christianity isn't quite my thing (Although, as a teen I had a bizarre Jesus obsession and my mother was quite certain I would horrifyingly become a Jew for Jesus.), but there is something about how Rev uses religion to devote himself to creating and living the life he wants with commitment and compassion, laughter and love, and pragmatism and practicality, that is riveting and downright addicting.

There is something about watching this family's every move that does set an example and is inspiring. Watching Run's House makes me want to live the best life I possibly can. And if that's not religion, I don't know what is.


*Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Afikoman


And P.S., how psyched am I to learn that I too can be on Rev Run's email list for daily words of wisdom AND that there's a book?!

And P.P.S., speaking of inspiration, this was quite a night for it. To what am I referring, you might ask? I can answer that in three words: ONE SHINING MOMENT. Talk about Triumph of the Human Spirit! I wait every year for the end of March to roll around just so I can watch this montage. I don't even watch college basketball. It's all about the montage of victory, defeat, sweat, tears, joy, sorrow...yeah, yeah, yeah, I also go nuts for stadium anthems at any sporting event, especially that Gary Glitter song. Cuz that's how I roll.