If This Were Your Last Day on Earth . . . .

I've been watching "Grey's Anatomy" on Netflix for the last week, or so.  I'd never seen it when I was settled in my house in Roseville.  After having worked so many years in the OR, I mistakenly believed that a TV show just couldn't do the experience justice.  So, currently I'm working on Season 2, Episode 18.

The medical drama series focuses on a group of doctors at a hospital in Seattle, including several who began their careers at the facility as interns. One of the doctors and the show's namesake, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), is the daughter of a famous surgeon. She struggles to maintain relationships with her colleagues, particularly the hospital's one-time chief of surgery, Richard Webber, due to a pre-existing relationship between them -- Webber and Meredith's mother had a personal relationship when Meredith was young.

I've never been a seasoned  / addicted TV watcher, except for Food Network in the recent 10 years.  Way back in the 60s and 70s it was Julia Child, from "mastering the Art of French Cooking."  Then beginning in the 90s it's been Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.

Anyway, during my travels around the US and my forays into  foreign countries in the last few years, I've begun watching lots of different types of movies and TV series on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and Netflix, all on my computer.  I love them all.  It's interesting here in Guatemala because if I go on the Internet to the Netflix website, I get some American, Canadian, British, and Australian programs; but, I also get lots of movies, etc. from Spain and Latin America.  Mostly they're in Spanish, and, if I'm lucky, there'll be English subtitles - I still have lots of problems catching the gist of movie conversations if I don't have a little help from subtitles!  Then, I can open an application, called Hotspot Shield, that somehow 'tricks' the service providing carriers into thinking that I'm accessing Netflix from the USA; and, presto, I get all the Netflix programs that are currently being offered to US subscribers but not to Latin American subscribers!  Pretty nifty, I'd say.

So, back to "Grey's Anatomy." First of all, the name of the TV show is really catchy to those among us who have labored away in the reference book, "Gray's Anatomy," the epitome of anatomy textbooks.  I'd be willing to bet there aren't more than three doctors in the US who do NOT own a copy of "Gray's Anatomy."  Even after ridding myself of 99% of my personal library in the last several weeks, I still have a copy, as it never goes out of style - human anatomy doesn't change.  Maybe in the next thousand years, or so, there'll be some modification to human anatomy, but not now!

In the episode of "Grey's Anatomy" I watched earlier today, Season 2, episode 17,  Meredith is tasked with maintaining her cool in the OR with a patient who has an unexploded bomb in his chest.  She's actually 'holding' her hand on the bomb until it can be safely removed and handed to the bomb squad who's standing opposite her with the operating table and patient between them.  I won't spoil it if you haven't yet seen it - go to Netflix and take a look at the whole series if you're interested.  But, the episode concludes with Meredith asking the question:  IF THIS WERE YOUR LAST DAY ON EARTH,  HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND IT AND WITH WHOM?

I'm meditating on my answer right now.  What's yours?