As I walk through the valley

***SPOILER ALERT***If you have not seen the season's end of Grey's Anatomy and want to without knowing what happens stop reading now***SPOILER ALERT***

In the midst of a very insane week, I managed to give myself two hours to watch the one show I seriously follow and have since it began, Grey's Anatomy. Through watching it with my roommate in Austin, to Friday afternoons with Abby, to large watching parties in the dorms and homes of PSR, to catching up on episodes online, to a little bit of me time with a glass of wine - I've watched the lives of these people of similar age progress through life. Just as my circles have moved and changed so have the lives of Seattle Grace. Folks have married, babies born, people moved, people died.
It is this last moment which has me pondering still today. I don't deal with death much. I've only lost one grandparent and I was not yet 6 then. I've lost one dear friend, but we were already separated by distance. I've lost a couple pets, namely Cricket and Duke. I've been to other funerals, but those are the four deaths that I can recall being closest to. My biggest fear is the death of someone close to me.
I was fully prepared for one of the deaths on last nights show (and that was still hard), but completely blind-sided by the other. I knew we knew John Doe, but I just couldn't figure it out. I kept running old characters through my brain and came up with nothing. Was I blinded by my want for O'Malley to change heart and stay on the show? Was the set-up that good? If he goes to the Army he can come back, if he dies that's it (no more Denny ghost type come-backs please) And what happens now? I've seen these people marry, divorce, mourn, pass exams, grow as individuals, marry, save lives and now die. I'm sure I'll get to process through these deaths with the characters that return in the fall, but what about my own experiences with them? {Artistic note to the director: nice picture made with the final scene. I will remember that last time I saw Izzy and George standing so handsomely at those elevator doors for a long time}
I realize that this is 'just a tv show' and I'm taking it very personally at this point, but I think it is worth looking at, especially for those of us who serve others. How affected are we by our television communities? I've spent my whole life witnessing families who know its not a good idea to tell mom/dad/sibling bad news after their team lost the game. Watched co-workers blog and go over and over the latest episode of LOST or Heroes. Listen to the hope ignited by a Susan Boyle or the rejection felt when our person gets voted out. We're involved in these lives. One statistic claims:
"According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube."
It would be very difficult to convince me that we're not involved and affected by something we devote at least 9 years of our cumulative life to. So, today I mourn. I mourn the loss, of not my favorite two characters, but still two people that have been a part of my life for at least one hour a week for 30 weeks of the year for 5 years. That is more then I've seen a lot of my dearest friends or most anyone reading this blog.