Yoga Far Off the Mat: One Day At a Time

This is it. This is it.

This is life, the one you get

So go and have a ball.

This is it. This is it

Straight ahead and rest assured

You can’t be sure at all.

So while you’re here enjoy the view

Keep on doing what you do

So hold on tight we'll muddle through

One day at a time, One day at a time.

So up on your feet. Up on your feet

Somewhere there’s music playing.

Don’t you worry none

We’ll just take it like it comes.

One day at a time, one day at a time.

By the time Bonnie Franklin hit the network in 1975, my mother had already been divorced twice and I was being raised in a single parent household for a while already. In 1975, this was the very first demonstration of single-motherhood on primetime television and I felt at home.

I am certain others tuned in because of Valerie Bertinelli (transforming in front of us from cute to beautiful) or because of their own fascination with the legacy of the Phillips family and a certain voyeurism in wanting to see if Mackenzie would end up like her father. Mackenzie’s behind the scenes drama was that she was addicted to cocaine and heroine and hiding the scars of having an incestuous relationship with him. This “profile” made it extremely challenging to work with her on the show because she would often not show up at work.

But I was tuning in because Bonnie was single parenting. And at the tender age of 8, I am certain that felt I was doing the same. Parenting myself.

I looked to her for her honesty and her forthrightness. She was real. I know I saw what was happening in her heart and that soothed me. She was spunky and she was courageous and she didn’t always get it “right.” Her girls were often angry with her and she had to deal with what that felt like in front of the world. The messiness of not knowing if she was scarring them, or helping them. It was beautiful to watch her growing her own self every week. Even if it was just for half an hour in the land of television where a laugh track would play and the camera would zoom in on moments of heightened drama oft-times with “TO BE CONTINUED” leaving me breathless and wanting more.

Bonnie Franklin, the woman who played Ann Romano, from 1975-1984, died this past Friday, March 1, 2013 at the tender age of 69 of pancreatic cancer. She was a renegade. For me, and for many others. At only 5’ 3 inches (same as me!!!- and I only began to grow in college for those of you who are reading on from High School), she was a powerhouse. A force to be reckoned with. She could punish “Julie” or “Barbara” and send them to their rooms with a simple look.

While Mary was the first divorcee and working woman on television, Bonnie played the first single mom and that was truly groundbreaking. It meant more than a little something to me and I’m sure it meant a helluva lot to many others. What I was always grateful for was that she expressed doubt. She never went at things with self-righteous indignation. Yes, she would send her girls to their rooms, but she would feel tender and sad and ache inside for them to forgive her. She questioned herself. And we always had the chance to feel her humanity. She showed us her wrinkles and her flaws and growing up with her, I grew to truly love her as a mother.

Dear Bonnie, I wish to offer you a final bow.

I remember when you performed in the original cast of “Applause” with Ms. Lauren Bacall in 1970 for two years (based on the film “All About Eve”) and sang the title song “Applause.” If only you could hear them now.

You can’t be sure at all.

So while you’re here enjoy the view

Keep on doing what you do

So hold on tight we'll muddle through

One day at a time, One day at a time.