The Office.
Okay. People can think I'm lame. People might not get it. In fact, Kameron always tells me, "It's just a TV show..."
But here's the thing, everyone.
To me, it's NOT just a TV show. It's much more.
I was first introduced to The Office when my dad got the first season on DVD as a gift. I was probably 13 or 14. We watched all six episodes right then and I was hooked. I loved the feel of the show. I loved the humor. I had a mad crush on John Krasinski. I loved how uncomfortable it made me feel. I loved how Jim loved Pam.
From that point on, I was watching every clip of every talk show I could find that had a cast member on it. I watched countless YouTube videos people made about Jim and Pam. I sat in my classes at school and wrote down all the quotes I could remember and decorate my notebooks with them. My friends would give me homemade shirts and cards that had to do with the show. I could name every episode of season two by name, in order. I remember I spent hours finding pictures of John Krasinski to put on a bulletin board which still hangs in my room at my mom's house. I was extremely obsessed. Unhealthy? Yeah...maybe. But the show made me laugh. It cheered me when I was down. I felt like I was making friends with these made-up characters that felt so real.
I vividly remember the night of the season two finale. Jim and Pam. Jim kissed Pam. Pam might love Jim. It was everything I had been waiting for and nobody was home but my mom, and she didn't get it. I ran upstairs, trying to have her understand. I was squealing pacing. My little teenage heart was racing as I ran downstairs to rewind and rewind and rewind the DVR. I watched that single tear roll down Jim's face and I got the chills. I still have his whole speech memorized like, 7 years later. But I was invested.
Then I joined an online chat group appropriately named The Office Chat. It was just a little chat room where fans could get together and talk about their mutual love for The Office. I made so many friends there, many of whom I still talk to, though we've never even met. I earned the nicknames of Soup, Sopu and Soupy because my chat name was SmellsLikeSoup. (Props if you can name the episode it's from). I would stay up into the wee hours of the night talking with these people that loved something as much as I did. They understood.
I will admit my devotion has not always been as strong as it was in Jr. high and high school. My interest began to wane a little bit after I moved out and got busy with college, but I never gave up on the show. I faithfully watched.
Now, the end has come. I warned Kameron that I might cry as we watched and he just chuckled. But really. I watched that first hour where the cast reflected on the past nine years and I got a little teary. I was brought back to the time where all I thought about was this show. I remembered certain episodes and where I was in my life when I watched them for the first time. I remembered little quotes that mean nothing like, "Their bread is VERY good" and it was the strangest thing, because I kept telling myself how ridiculously lame it was to be emotional over something that was fabricated in writing rooms for famous people that have real lives. None of it is real. Jim and Pam are really John and Jenna, both married to different people and Jenna with a child.
But. I. Cried.
I don't know how else to explain it other than to say it was like a best friend. A brilliant, funny, heartbreaking, but reliable best friend who I met when I was 14, and while we fought occasionally, it will still always be a friend.
Thanks Dunder Mifflin, for being such a big part of my growing up.
"There is such a thing as good grief. Just ask Charlie Brown."
