Ricky Shroeder Turns 40!

This past week I was doing my daily search for Entertainment news & gossip and I came up on some disturbing news.

Ricky Shroeder just turned 40.

My first crush, first love, first Bop magazine pin-up boy... is 40. It kind of freaked me out and just put so much in perspective for me (mostly my age). I don't know if you can understand how much I loved this boy... Ricky Shroeder photos were all over my wall and all over my scrapbook. "Silver Spoons" was my FAVORITE show in the 80's. My older sister and I would watch it and every time they showed the credits at the beginning to one of the best theme songs ever ("Togeeeeeether, we're gonna find our way...") and Ricky's name would flash across the screen with him wearing the green LaCoste shirt... we would fight over who got to kiss the TV screen. This really happened... every week. He grew up before our eyes. He went from little Ricky to "The Ricker". And he was just the cutest thing ever.

There's a story here. My mom and dad made my older sister go to Hechinger's on a Saturday night. Hechinger's was an 80's Virginia version of Home Depot. And it was a really f'ing boring store, the last place I wanted to be on a Saturday night. I had places to be (at the age of 8) and that place was my couch watching a re-run of the "Silver Spoons" episode where Ricky dresses up like a girl. It was one of my favorites and I was not going to miss it. I remember watching the clock, checking my watch, annoyingly asking what my parents what time it was. Dammit, why didn't someone invent Tivo? Why didn't I set my VCR? I tried passing the time entertaining myself by playing on the dolleys, rolling it all over the store. I started to piss off my parents. "Oh I'm sorry... Am I embarrassing you? Well, take me home to watch Silver Spoons and I'll knock it off". I had to bargain with them. It didn't work and they returned to their shopping. Before I knew it, I missed my show and we had new knobs for our kitchen cabinets. Pretty annoying.

My point is: Ricky Shroeder was my priority in the 80's. Life revolved around the Ricker. And I didn't want to be anywhere else but in front of that television set watching my blue eyed, blond haired crush. He went from Ricky (the boy) to the Ricker (the teenager) to Rick (the man). He came back to television as Detective Danny Sorenson on NYPD Blue for a few years in the 90's and I was happy, but of course it wasn't the same as the "Silver Spoons" years.

Well, Happy 40th Birthday Ricky. Thanks for making me feel super freaking old.