Goodbye Regis

When I would visit my grandparents as a kid, I would wake up in the morning and sit on the couch staring at my Grandma doing her "exercises." These would include her legs two feet apart with arms stretched out to her sides performing donuts and her mouth making weird movements that I dubbed her "mouthercises." While I would contemplate why she needed to do mouthercises, the TV was always turned to Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. My Grandma would always laugh at something Regis said and then glance at me, "Oh, that Regis...he's kinda funny that Regis." My Grandpa would agree with a soft grunt while sitting in his recliner, drinking Folger's, eating salty peanuts, and doing crosswords.

Although my Grandpa has passed away and I rarely see my Grandma now, I've always found Regis Philban to be a reminder of them. For some reason I like that slightly cocky loud booming almost startling voice and that twinkly grin everytime he thinks he's being hysterically funny. Kathie Lee has been gone for over a decade and was replaced with the much funnier Kelly Ripa, but it was always him that I was drawn to. He had that old vintage New York personality--the love for showtunes and jazzy love songs, the chatting about his dinners with older celebrities, the never trash talking anyone in the tabloids. He always seemed appreciative of the fortunate life he lead, for his family, and for those he called his friends.

Today is his last day on Live with Regis and Kelly after more than 28 years on the air. I think I'm going to miss the comfort I receive in knowing that I could turn him on at 9am every weekday morning and be transported back to a time when I could just spend quiet quality time with my grandparents and watch them laugh at someone of their own generation. I guess it's inevitable that everyone must move on, but sometimes I wish that weren't so. Goodbye Regis...