9 Years ago, on
September 23rd, 2003 I sat on my black couch in Atlanta, GA and
watched the Series premier of One Tree Hill on The WB. It is now 9 years later,
April 4th 2012, in Haymarket, VA I was sitting in an orange and white chair
and I watched the series finale of this amazing show. This show isn't just
about the characters and their stories, the wonderful music, and the way I have
felt like a part of the show, for me it's about so much more….. its about 3
very real and serious relationships of my own with (MSF, YR, & BHTW) that I
had during those 9 years. During that
time I watched this show and begrudgingly so did those 3 men. I used to sit
with them on the various couches (Black, Beige, & Red) to watch it. Whether
it was on a Monday, a Tuesday or a Wednesday, whether it was on at 8:00 or 9:00
and regardless of if I was in the south, on the east coast, or in the west,
this show was the one thing I HAD TO WATCH every week.
It has now come to it’s
end and I literally don't know what I will do without it. This show somehow
reached me on a personal level, I think it's because when the characters
struggled, I too was struggling in real life and somehow this show has given me
hope. Although it was fiction, you won’t
find a single One Tree Hill fan who wouldn't say that fact was true for them as
well. The stories that were told, the
quotes, the music lyrics, the heartache, the heartbreak, the tears of joy, and
the tears of pain and sadness, were all very real and I felt that way as I watched. Probably because I was crying in real life
all the way through the 9 years it was on the air.
One thing is for sure,
although it has come to it’s end with episode 187 titled “One Tree Hill”, I
will watch it on DVD probably forever!
Who knows maybe I’ll even pass it on to my little girl someday when
she’s a teenager and tell her to watch all 9 Seasons, that they have valuable
life lessons in them.
Here is just one of
those lesson’s in the form of a quote from the final episode, spoke by James
Lafferty, as
Nathan Scott:
“Every once
in a while people step up, they rise above themselves. Sometimes they surprise
you, and sometimes they fall short. Life is funny sometimes, it can push pretty
hard, but if you look close enough you find hope in the words of children, in
the bars of a song and in the eyes of someone you love. And if you're lucky,
and if you're the luckiest person on this entire planet, the person you love
decides to love you back.” - Nathan
Scott
While I watched this
show, as I mentioned in numerous different blog posts previously, there was
music on this show that spoke to me on a real level. Music that made this show what it is. Creator Mark Schwahn, mentioned in the
pre-finale interview that every episode was like it’s very own "mixed tape" because of the different music and artists they got to bring to the table on
the show. It’s interesting that there
was a Tric reunion on the finale and they didn’t have
Kate Voegele’s character
Mia Catalano sing, nor did Jana Kramer come back to sing as Alex Dupre’, but I
can’t be disappointed because this finale was probably better than I could ever
have hoped for.
As the show comes to
it’s end, one of the songs Gavin Degraw sings in the final episode really does
teach me a lesson, which I already knew…believe in yourself! So everyone takes a different feeling from
songs but for me, this one is about believing in yourself and believing in someone
else and having faith that someone else can and will stand by you no matter what. I clearly have not found that person yet, but
I am hopeful……
Belief
Makes things real
Makes things feel
Feel alright
Belief
Makes things true
Things like you
You and I
Tonight, you arrested my mind
When you came to my defense
With a knife
In the shape of your mouth
In the form of your body
With the wrath of a god
Oh, you stood by me
Belief
So recently I’ve been
doing a lot of self-reflection and have become self-aware. I’m doing some personal meditation and being
mindful of the things in my life where I need to make changes. The things in my life that I can control and
the things and people that I can’t control. In all
honesty, those 3 relationships that came to an end, most certainly ended just as
much because of me, as they did because of the other person. I’d like to think that I’m not the only
person that is trying to reflect on the decisions I made and the things I could
have done differently, but as a wise person tells me quite regularly, “you can
only change yourself, you can’t change anyone else”. That being said, I certainly wish the best for those 3
men and hope that some day we will talk openly about the mistakes we each made
and how we have learned and can grow as people because of those experiences.
For now, I say to you my
readers, other fans of One Tree Hill, and to my family and friends, (as corny
as it is to copy this line)….. There is only one LISA KATHRYN MARSH and I will
forever be who I am today. And I hope that at some point I will see the silver lining in everything that happened and
be able to understand it all. But right now, I am certainly trying to reflect on it.
So goodnight to everyone
reading this, and goodbye to the show that will forever shape the kind of
person I want to be!
Goodbye to One Tree
Hill!! Always and Forever……..
Oh and P.S. to any other fans...... Get the Season 9 Finale on DVD Box Set on Tuesday April 10th.
For me it's just in time for the Tyler Hilton concert at Jamin Java in Vienna, VA on April 11th, and a perfect chance for one final autograph.
