I made a decision to push away from the table of all e-news entertainment shows and magazines when my daughter passed away. Having been on public view for close to five years through a divorce and daughter with cancer, I decided to no longer be a voyeur, watching the lives of others. In the months since Megan’s death I’ve often taken a step back at the number of people who knew intimate details of our journey, yet made no contact for support. Silent observers.
It is the sad truth that the Tiger Woods scandal seems to be an accident that I just can’t look away from. On a trip to my hairdresser last week, I read all five (count ’em FIVE) magazines. It’s the one time that I enjoyed close to an hour of black dye soaking into my gray head. It allowed me enough time to devour the news…and part of the chocolates in the dish in front of me.
Today I was directed to the Billy Dee Williams spoof on YouTube with the Tiger Woods Mistress Commemorative Plates. I roared with laughter. Well, I laughed until they featured the Elin Nordegren meat cleaver. Not so funny. I guess in a way I feel like ‘have at it’ with the cheater, say what you want about the women who didn’t respect the sanctity of marriage, but back away from the woman whose life has become a public joke and embarrassment. Back away from the one whose had no choice, as the life she choose has turned in to a media circus.
The news of cancer may seem a world away from Tiger and the Tramps. It was my own daughter who helped me see the comparison before her death. As we watched Paris Hilton enter her prison term, Megan cried. She cried not because she was a fan of the heiress, but she said, “I know what it’s like to get news that turns your world up-side-down. I know what it’s like to have your life completely devastated in a moment. And it doesn’t matter if it’s deserved or not. The feeling is still the same, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
Megan taught me what I really needed to know. Some would argue that Tiger’s wife ‘must have known’. I knew something was wrong in Megan’s body, but when I received the call that she had a tumor it went from ‘wonder’ to full-blown heartache.
I’ll bring a good book next time I’m at the hairdresser. Or maybe I’ll say a little prayer for Elin, mother of two, who is trying to piece together a shattered life.
