The Women Of "Orange Is The New Black” are My New Best Friends

As a person who typically watches NO daytime TV and is very particular about what she does watch at night, the shelter in place during this covid outbreak, has been a revelation about the state of TV these days. The ability to stream Netflix/Amazon Prime/Apple+/Hulu etc. to my living room TV; a TV that sits directly in front of my recliner is both miraculous and a HUGE problem. I am now discovering treasure troves of programming, some of which is twenty years old. Who knew there were shows like The Wire, Weeds, Damages, Orange is the New Black and Revenge? I am watching series people completed ten years ago. Somehow, I missed almost a decade while doing algebra homework, driving kids all over the planet and finding fifteen different ways to serve mac and cheese.  But now, choices are so numerous I’m overwhelmed, and realizing all I had to do was hit "next episode" and days could pass by while I devoured entire series has frankly become overwhelming.  I feel like last week never happened. So now, stuck at home, strapped into my recliner with literally anything I want streaming away into my living room, and despite my absolute refusal to watch any show set in a prison because they are terrifying, sad and demoralizing, I have become an "Orange is the New Black" junkie.  The question is why?  There is no doubt it is a prison show and there is no question that it is graphic, upsetting and demoralizing.  So why do I hit "next episode" instead of "exit"? In the past few years, my kids have all finished college and moved out. I always understood that my relationships with them would change during that process, and I knew the same would be true for my husband and me as we adjusted to being home without the kids.  What I wasn't prepared for was how my relationships with my friends would change as well.  What I've found is that for some of us, once the kids were gone and once we were no longer involved in our local school systems, there wasn't much left to share.  It became harder to maintain the link that held us together.  We still enjoyed each other's company, but we weren't a fixture in each other's lives on a daily basis.  And once kids finished college and moved out, our daily phone calls, and connections between us became even more fragile.We discovered that perhaps what held us together and what provided the basis of our friendship disappeared when the kids did. Many, like my husband and I moved to different towns and sometimes states. Even as new relationships with new people were formed based on things that didn’t involve our kids, this shelter in place period has made us all long for those connections. I think that's part of why I'm in my recliner for the women of "Orange."  I want to be with Piper, Alex, Taystee, Crazy Eyes, Miss Claudette, and yes, even insane Pennsatucky because despite their differences, despite their "crazy" they are in it together.  Even if "it" is a miserable, disgusting and deprivation filled life, they have each other. The bond is real and at times, heartwarming.  I don't want to go to prison, but I wouldn’t mind leaving my house to join up with my gang. I miss my real life friends; old and new, but for now, at least, I guess I’ve got to be content with Crazy Eyes and the gang.