FAREWELL DAVID McCALLUM ET. AL.

 

          I have been a fan of NCIS since it first appeared on television. I especially liked Mark Harmon although I did have difficulty in the beginning separating him from his previous role as Ted Bundy (He did an excellent job of portraying that part.). I miss his presence in NCIS since he went to live in Alaska, but he deserves a wholesome life after all the years he fought the good fight as Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

          Michael Weatherly as Anthony DiNozzo was also missed by me when he left to become Bull, although I certainly liked him in that and watched every episode. Then there was Cote de Pablo who played Ziva. I missed the sexual tension and verbal sparring between her and DiNozzo when she left. I believe the writers killed her off and left DiNozzo with their child which was the explanation for his leaving the series.

Of course, I could never forget Abby Sciuto played by Pauley Perrette. What a smart and crazy individual with tattoos, addicted to Caf-Pow and the only cast member I think I ever saw Gibbs kiss. It made me sad to read she never liked Mark Harmon and was afraid of him (Although that could just be untrue gossip.). That certainly wasn't reflected in the way they portrayed their roles. I didn’t like having her leave either and am still having difficulty with her replacement.

David McCallum who played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard sort of disappeared every now and then, but always returned. I’ve liked him since he first appeared as Illya Kuryakin in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. I actually liked Illya much better than Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn. Vaughn always seemed to play a bad guy in future roles.

Anyway, it took some time to get used to the new individuals, but I did; and while I don’t like any of them as well as I liked those that left, I still faithfully watch the programs. I appreciated the fact Sean Murray, Brian Dietzen, Rocky Carroll and David McCallum remained. While it wasn’t exactly the family I’d become used to, it was still NCIS family.

When I heard David McCallum had passed away, I wondered how NCIS would handle his permanent absence and found out on the episode that aired a couple weeks ago. The writers did a wonderful job of having Ducky die. They didn’t kill him off, but had him die peacefully in his sleep…I loved that.

Now, you probably wonder why I’m writing about NCIS and the folks that were and are in that show. It’s because I found myself in tears as I watched the program depicting the death of Ducky and its ramifications on his co-workers. Michael Weatherly showed up at the very end; and while there were clips that included Gibbs and Ziva, I wish they could have appeared in person as well.

I didn’t really understand why I was crying, but having mulled this over for a while, I think it was realizing how much I miss people who have inhabited my life in some form no longer being a part of it. I’m not talking about John, my parents, or anyone who has been close to me and a significant part of my life. I’m talking about people like David McCallum, people who brought some form of joy into my life in some fashion. There are many many of those people in my seventy-eight years as there must be in everyone’s.

In recent memory, the one that hit the hardest, although I didn’t cry then was Jimmy Buffet. I loved his music and attended a concert in the Gorge with my youngest son when he was a teenager. I think he was a bit shocked and greatly surprised by the woman who danced around and sang along. Still, I have Jimmy’s music and can listen to his songs and sing along whenever I want. I just wish he were still here to contribute many more songs to his repertoire.

Of course, I could go back decades and the list of people who added something to my life in small or large ways would be almost never-ending. There was the Big Bopper, JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Bob Marley, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Hemingway, Tolkien…it really would be never-ending.

In any case, I’m grateful for the memories each of these musicians, writers, actors, and politicians left behind. Even though I met few famous people in my life, in some small way, each and every one of so many talented individuals contributed a treasure of some form to my life.

Watching that episode of NCIS made me think about and reflect on all the losses that came before David McCallum. I had never really thought about those kinds of losses; and undoubtedly, there will be more to come. I’m truly sorry all those individuals (named and unnamed) have gone on but their words, be they in speeches, books, songs, or on film, will continue to enrich whichever day I choose to invite them back into my life.