Thank you for being my neighbor.

Most who know me, know of my fondness of the public television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. As a child it was one of my favorite programs. Who am I kidding? It still is. Of course back in the day I liked Sesame Street as well. But it didn’t hold a candle to Mister Rogers. Mister Rogers would take you on a journey that you wouldn’t usually get to travel on. He would take you along to see how a saxophone was made, or crayons, or even to visit the penguins at Sea World (long before there was a Sea World here in Texas). They were all done through the wonderful Picture Picture. Most of the time you knew Picture Picture was going to be viewed when the ever so quick Mr. McFeely would stop by (SPEEDY DELIVERY) and drop off the daily mail. He usually delivered the rolls of film (which would eventually evolve into a vhs tape) that Mr. Rogers would put into Picture Picture and it would instantly start playing. I found out years later it was really a stage hand (often a young Michael Keaton) that was working behind the scenes that would take the film and start the video playing. But as a kid, it was just an amazing magical television screen.

The journeys didn’t just stop there. They also took you to the Neighborhood of Make Believe as well via Trolley (Ding Ding). There you would meet characters like X The Owl, Daniel Striped Tiger, King Friday (Royal Greetings) and his family, and the lovely Lady Aberlin and all the rest of the cast. They would play out scenarios that most kids would go through at some point in their lives and help them figure out how to cope with life’s problems. Most of all, Mister Rogers, Lady Aberlin, Handy Man Negri, Bob Dog and every single person that had anything to do with MRN, tried to instill one belief onto all of their viewers. Just be yourself. We’re all different and those differences makes every one of us special. So just be you.

                So as I have said before, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will always have a special place in my heart. Which eventually will also have a special place in my children’s hearts as well. Though I believe it will have slightly more of a place in my daughter’s than my son’s. That’s because sadly MRN was cancelled when my son was really young. So he didn’t get as invested in it as she did. But they were both so excited when Mister Rogers sent them both a personalized signed photo that they still have to this day. They are both in their early 20’s now.

                Life is such a roller coaster of a ride sometimes. I think it’s funny how things happen that sometimes tie back to other things un-expectantly. My wife and I have this awesome little guy in our lives now. Well…not just now. When he was just a few months old we were searching for something to watch on television. To maybe see if there is something that he might like on tv that wasn’t violent and had a positive message and in the meantime could be educational to a growing mind. Lo and behold, what did we find? An animated program called “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”. By the title I instantly thought they were ripping off MRN. Open minded I gave it a watch and discovered what it was. Boy was I wrong. I usually don’t like remakes or reboots. But with this I have to make an exception. In my opinion they made a really good homage to a great show.

                As we watched, it seemed like Joseph took an instant like to it. Surprisingly, I have to say, I did too. There are a couple things I don’t particularly care for. One being that the Daniel Tiger character can be a little whiny at times. The other was the lack of the other human characters from MRN. It seems that only one human character transferred over from the original. That was Mr. McFeely. I guess I understand that they can’t have all of them back. But why not one here and there. A visit from Lady Aberlin or even Francois Clemmons would be really cool to see. Maybe that’s just me though.

                I recently wrote to David Newell and sent a long a couple things for him to autograph and send back. For those who don’t know, David Newell is Mr. McFeely. About a month after I sent it to him I come home to a package on my doorstep. The package was just torn up beyond belief. But the “to” and “from” address was still there and it didn’t affect the contents. So after reading the “from” address I knew instantly who it was from. It was from David Newell. I thought what could this be. I had only sent a couple 4x6 sized items to him. So I took it in the house and carefully opened it up. WOW.

                Upon opening it I find three books inside. Two of them were books that Fred Rogers had wrote that pertained to our current situation and the third was a children book about Mr. McFeely that I can read to Joseph. Also inside was a four page letter apologizing for the delay and answering some questions I had and also a 6x8 photo of Mr. McFeely signed to me. He also said that if I send him my kids’ names he will send them an autographed photo too. So I did, and a week or so later they receive their autographed photos in the mail. I didn’t get my items back, but with the great and unexpected response from him, I am totally ok with it. My mind was truly blown away. I am in my forties now and Mister Rogers Neighborhood is still putting a smile on my face as well as my kids’ faces. They loved their photos. Well two of them did. Joseph didn’t know what it was. Lol It’s such a good feeling a very good feeling.

Riley