Show me your 'O' Face

I just hope it doesn't look like this:

I should give these people the benefit of the doubt, because I have no idea what crazy face I would make if Oprah had just given me a new car that hadn't even been released yet so only the silhouette of which could be revealed, a scholarship, built me my own school in my African village or took me on a trip down under. My O face might look very different.

Perhaps something like this.

This is what I look like on my birthday. I imagine Oprah makes everyone feel like it's their birthday when they visit Harpo Studios. Unfortunately for me, I'll never know.

[Also, I was very generous with the picture selection of my O face. This is unfair to the people shown above and for that, I apologize. But, it is my blog. And you met Oprah. So we're even.]

The one time I did meet Oprah, was at the Academy Awards in 2004. I use the word meet loosely, as we were about 60 feet away and there was no formal introduction. Unless she has excellent hearing and heard me whisper "I love you Oprah" from the bleacher seats, which I'm sure she does and did. She was radiant. As my three friends and I ate our free bread (the only thing the fine Academy gave to us "bleacher creatures" in the 9ish hours we sat out there), I dreamt of being able to talk to her, to have a conversation with the icon herself. Ask her a question. What in the world would I ask her? Instead she went to Maria Menounos who asked her, "Who are you wearing?" What a waste of a question, Menounos. I should've slapped Maria when I saw her again in Park City this last January for Sundance and simply said, "That's for Oprah."

Okay, now I'm just dropping names.

Oprah has been on the air 93% of my life. I've never known a world where Miss Winfrey did not exist. However, Oprah and my relationship didn't really blossom until I was in college. In a world before DVR's, I wasn't able to watch Oprah on a daily basis as I was probably running around a soccer field or track through most of my middle and high school days. When I was in college, I was usually home in the afternoons to watch her show. College is probably the best age to start watching Oprah because now you've seen a little bit of what happens outside of your hometown-albeit I was in Corvallis, OR which was voted one of the most liveable towns in the nation. Although, 'The Oprah Show' did have an unfortunate connection with Corvallis when a young woman, Brooke Wilberger, was kidnapped from an apartment building and later murdered, and Oprah interviewed Wilberger's parents.

Love or hate her [there usually seems to be no middle road with O] you must give credit where it is due. This woman changed television and further than that, she changed lives. And we watched her change along with us. It's easy to invite people onto your show to engage in a staged and intimate quarrel for entertainment value, but it is quite another to take an interest in someone's life and help them improve it. Sometimes this was in the form of material items, but most often other times, it was giving them validation. Hey guess what, I care. It's something we don't say enough to the people in our own lives and it was such an apropros message she shared on her finale yesterday. People need to feel a sense of validation. That they matter.

And if nothing else, she gave us "Oprah voice." It's one of my favorite ThIIIIIIiiiinnngggs!

Note: I have come to love and often use Oprah voice on friend's birthdays, holidays, and sometimes just for kicks on their voicemails. I've tried to transfer this onto the wall's of Facebook, but it's just not the same. I think this has been Oprah's biggest impact on me. And it makes people smile, so that's enough. Thanks for helping me get a laugh out of my friends, O.

Cheers, Oprah. You done good. Now start writing your book already.

“Find your calling. It lights you up and it let’s you know you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to do and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. You in your own way can illuminate the world.” -Oprah Winfrey 5/25/11