March 20 will mark the 80th anniversary of Mr. Rogers’ birth and, to commemorate it, PBS is having a multi day celebration culminating in a drive for everyone to wear a sweater on his birthday.
I loved Mr. Rogers although, as a child, I had in retrospect some very valid questions about what went on in his house when he wasn’t around.
First, was the house where Mr. Rogers visited each day and where he would change his shoes and sweater empty save for that half an hour? How come he had extra clothes there? The trolley was definitely my favorite part- where it parked at night- in the land of Make Believe or in that house somewhere? So many questions that probably won’t ever be answered. I loved Mr. Rogers and would have liked to have known where he went after he changed his shoes and sweater again at the end of the show.
He sang at the end of the show “it’s a happy feeling to know that your alive, it’s a happy feeling to know we’re friends.” I really think that he would like to know that all the children that he sang to and took on field trips from 1968 until 2001 are remembering him and his cool stop light that he had in his house.
We could all do with a little more Mr. Rogers in our lives, and I will think about that when I grab a cardigan on March 20.
