Julie Baker - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

 

Every day I watched the clock. I couldn't wait for him to arrive. And when he finally did, he was smiling and he was singing and he was talking about what a beautiful day it was, even when I could see out my window that it was raining some days. And then, he came in and he hung up his suit jacket and he took down a sweater and he zipped it up and he sat down and he took off his shoes [audience chuckles] and he tossed them in the air and put on his sneakers. And he was so happy. And for the next 30 minutes, I was happy, too. [audience chuckles] I sat inches from the TV, watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. [audience chuckles] 

 

I was four. It was 1968. We had just moved again, and I was the new kid. I was thrilled when I discovered that next door was Tracy Paresso. Tracy was four, too. Her birthday was just a month away from mine. We hung out all the time. Or, rather, I basically went to her house every day and stayed there most of the day. Her parents were really, really nice. Her mom made cookies, and her dad hatched baby chicks under a grow light in the garage. [audience laughter] They didn't scream at her when we decided to have a yard sale and sell our parents' stuff [audience laughter] out on the road. When the mailman tattled on us, they just laughed.

 

My mom was usually not really paying attention. She had a lot on her plate. My brother was six, I was four, my sister was two, and my baby brother was one. She was always tired and she was always mad. She didn't have a lot of time for me. So, I loved the Paresso’s. When September came and my brother started first grade, Tracy was starting preschool. So, everybody, including me, thought I would be starting preschool. Tracy and I were the same age. But my mother said no, that preschool was private, which costs money, and that preschool was just for children who didn't know how to read. She implied that Tracy wasn't very bright. 

 

And that since I knew how to read, I wasn't going to preschool. I was devastated. Devastated. I was going to be home alone all day. My mother was desperate. And even though she didn't like TV, PBS was okay. So, she planted me there in front of the TV. I don't remember the first time that I met Mr. Rogers, but I loved him immediately. I loved most of all the Land of Make Believe. I loved King Friday, and Queen Sarah, and Lady Elaine Fairchild [audience chuckles] and Prince Tuesday. I loved it all. I would sit there when I would hear the trolley, that it was coming to the Land of Make Believe, [gasps] I would start to clap my hands really softly, because I didn't want to wake up my dad. He worked third shift and he would sleep during the day. 

 

He would come home from work, he would pour his special orange juice, which I knew better than to drink, [audience chuckles] and he would complain about all the fucking assholes at work, [audience chuckles] and then he would go to bed. We knew better than to disturb him, because if we woke him up, he would yell how he was going to bounce us off the walls, which I always thought was really funny, because I thought I was going to turn into a Super Bowl. Mr. Rogers never told anybody to shut the fuck up. [audience chuckles] Instead, he told me that I was special and that he liked me just the way I was, and I believed him.

 

Fast forward 30 years. I have my own little girl. I'm working for a public television show, and I'm doing marketing. When I find out that Mr. Rogers is going to be animated as an aardvark on Arthur, I am thrilled that I am even remotely related to it. It was like six degrees of separation, [audience chuckles] and I was only two. Then when they told me that he was coming for a special visit and that members of the Arthur team could be in the room while they presented him with this framed animated cel of him as an aardvark. I showed up early, like it was a general admission Rolling Stones concert. [audience laughter] 

 

I sat at the table. He walked in and he was older, but he still had that kind face and that smile. I sat at the table and I just hung on his every word. And then, they told us that if we wanted him to sign something, he could stay for just a little while. He stayed for the whole long line of people. I waited in line, and I had rehearsed what I was going to say to him. I was going to tell him how special he was, and how I was this lonely little girl, and he made me believe that I was special. I waited in line with a copy of the VHS tape that I was going to have him sign. 

 

When I got up to him, everything left my mind. He took my hand in both of his hands and I told him my name, and he said, "Julie, I am so glad that you are here today." He said, "People don't realize, because I'm on TV that I can get nervous. And I was nervous when I walked in the room with all these strangers. And then, I saw your face and you were smiling and you were happy to see me. And I just want you to know you're special. And I like you just the way you are." [audience laughter] Thank you.