Watch the Ellen Show on Monday

My Mom is going to be on The Ellen Show this coming Monday. Now, when I say on The Ellen Show, I don't mean like when your mother visited the David Letterman Show or your Pappy got to see the Grand Ol' Opry. I mean, my Mom is going to be on it.

Admittedly, this might be stretching it a bit. She will actually be sitting in the audience. She's no "star" herself in the world's eyes... But, she did graduate from Atlanta High School in Atlanta, Texas, in 1976... and so did Ellen. Yes, Ellen and my Mom were classmates. After her sophomore year, Ellen moved from Louisiana (I think near New Orleans) over to Atlanta. She was in different cliques than my Mom, but they knew each other. I mean, come on, it's a small town, there were only about 100 or so students in their graduating class. You know how it is: everyone knows everyone.

So this year is their thirty-year class reunion. Rather than meeting in the gym or some conference room at a local motel, she decided, at the suggestion of one of their mutual friends, Mark White, who now also lives in Southern California, to host the class reunion on her show. So, everyone was invited, and Ellen has flown a number of them to Burbank. My Mom arrived today. I just got off the phone with her. She's very, very excited. And, they're having a blast. Getting to stay in the Burbank Hilton and being pampered and celebrated can't be that bad.

Some interesting stories have already come out of the woodwork of this whole process. For instance, a camera crew spent last week cruising around Atlanta to take some shots and interview her old buddies. One of them is Phil Rice. Phil was one of the men who helped out with our cross-country team some when I was in school, and his wife, Donna, was my 6th grade Social Studies teacher and 8th grade Speech and Drama teacher. She is one of my favorite teachers of all-time. Well, anyway, Phil dated Ellen a bit, so they questioned him. Unfortunately, Donna and Phil decided not to go, but some of the class members were telling the Ellen people today about how Phil and Ellen dressed up as "Bonnie and Clyde" once. The Ellen people were very excited about this and really wanted a picture. They called Donna to ask her if she was coming, and she said, "No, I already told you we weren't." They asked her to mail the picture, but she said she didn't want to lose it (and they didn't know if it would arrive in time), so she wouldn't mail it. She said she could mail a copy, but they weren't interested in a copy. They wanted the original. So then, Donna heard Ellen yell to them in the background, "Tell her to send it with Jo Griffin!" (that's my Mom; "Griffin" is her maiden name)

Furthermore, when they got off the airplane today in Burbank on American Airlines, they asked the people on the plane for the Ellen high school reunion to stay on after everyone else left. They then found my Mom and told her she was in charge and that she should round everybody up and kind of lead the pack. She shyly attempted to do as told, unsure of the reason for such attention. One of the things that ensued was them gathering and singing the Alma Mater. Since this was all filmed, it will likely be tied into the show. So, basically, she doesn't really know if Ellen has particular memories of my Mom that has lead her to suggest her for certain duties or what, but, any way around it, my Mom is very concerned now that she might be spotlighted at some point to answer some question during the show. If that happens, then she told me that she probably would just be the center of an awkward moment, because she can't remember any particular memories worth sharing about Ellen.

That is my story. I just wanted you all to be in on the coolness of what's going on right now down in Burbank. Watch the show Monday if you get the chance. She evidently has been mentioning things about Atlanta during the past week in order to build some interest in the upcoming reunion. One story that is particularly funny is when, last week, Ellen said on the show, humorously speaking to Atlanta classmates that might be watching, "Ricky Partain, so I'm wondering if you're going to want your "promise ring" back now." (I'm assuming most of you understand the significance of a "promise ring.") Anyhow, the Ellen people then called Ricky to ask if he would indeed want his "promise ring" back, and he, being drunk when they called (as I was told), said, "Hell! I don't remember givin' her any "promise ring!" When they asked, "Oh, you didn't give her a "promise ring?" he responded, "What I said was, I don't remember givin' her one."

Funny story. Oh, and one more thing. Ellen still has a good friendship with Mark White, who was (is) also a good friend of my Mom. She's actually staying there at his house in Burbank tonight. He is also the one that suggested to Ellen a few weeks ago that she do this whole thing. Anyhow, some of Ellen's staff asked Mark this past week what he thought would be three things that Atlanta High School needs, and she was going to try to pick something that would be special. At the time, he randomly came up with (1) a flashy new digital sign out in front near the road for messages and such, (2) something else that I can't remember that wasn't that big of a deal, and (3) (he thought about this one for a bit but couldn't come up with anything, but they said, "Ellen wants three things") so, after he thought about it awhile, he told them, "Well, how about a new gym?" They sort of chuckled at this and thanked him. So, we're now curious: might we soon, there in Atlanta, Texas, have a new basketball stadium called DeGeneres Arena? That would be awesome.

Isn't this all very cool? It's exciting when the entertainment world and the world of your childhood collide. No one can really explain that, but it would be true for anyone, I suppose. Something about taking what you have always known as the ordinary, the mundane, the culturally insignificant and having it shown to the whole world for the beauty of a thing that it really is (and, yes, Atlanta, Texas, is, in fact, quite a beauty, in my opinion) is quite satisfying and fun.