Do You Remember Your Wonder Years?

What do you remember most about your wonder years???????

… your family? … your bestfriend? … your first love? … your favorite tv show that made you laugh and made you cry, made you think and made you giddy?

If you were to ask me what tv show made the most impact on me during my puberty and adolescent years, I would immediately tell you, “It’s The Wonder Years!”.

I have wonderful memories from that show... even now, as I write this, I smile as I remember the events from the show that touched me and the lessons that I still keep until now.

The Wonder Years is an all-American comedy-drama set in 1968-1973 about the life of a young kid/teenager named Kevin Arnold. I was too young when the show first aired in 1988, so I just started watching replays when I was around 9 or 10 years old. And I watched it till I was in high school so I feel like I grew up with Kevin Arnold.

Despite the setting, I still felt that he was my guy best bud. No matter where you are in the world or what your gender is, I think you’ll be able to relate to almost everything that Kevin went through - relationships with family and friends, crushes, infatuation, first love, school, character development, growing up, peer pressure, the joys and heartaches of life and discovery of what it’s about and who you really are.

The show was narrated by an older Kevin reminiscing on his childhood and teenage years. During his narration after each episode, he also shared beautiful quotes and wise insights that are mostly applicable until now.

Like this one: “Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.”

The main characters in the series are:

Kevin Arnold

Winnie Cooper- Kevin’s childhood friend and first love. I guess this quote summarizes who she was in Kevin’s life: “Once upon a time, there was a girl I knew, who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way had to do with her. That day, Winnie and I promised each other that no matter what, that we’d always be together. It was a promise full of passion and truth and wisdom. It was the kind of promise that can only come from the hearts of the very young.” Awwwwwww! Paul Pfeiffer- Kevin’s lifelong best friend. The nerdy-type excellent student, Jewish and allergic to a lot of substances. Wayne Arnold- Kevin’s bully older brother. He liked tormenting Kevin and Paul, though he showed sensitivity in a couple of episodes.

Jack Arnold- Kevin’s conservative and unexpressive dad. He was a former Army man, he used to work for a large electronics corporation and eventually started his own furniture business.

Norma Arnold- Kevin’s caring and sometimes over-protective stay-at-home mom. She eventually finished her college degree and started working for a start-up company.

I have a lot of favorite episodes during the 6 seasons of this wonderful series. To enumerate them all here would make this post too long! Maybe I’ll dedicate a couple of later posts to some of the more significant episodes for me.

For now, I would like to share my take on Kevin and Winnie’s relationship. As every significant event in Kevin’s life always had something to do with Winnie Cooper, their love story had always been my favorite part of the series.

At the pilot episode, Kevin and Winnie had the first kiss of their lives with each other and it makes you wish that growing up, you also had THAT “guy/girl next door”. All throughout the series, they went through a lot of stages: realizing they like each other, dating/flings with other people, periods of uncertainty, break-up’s, making-up’s, arguments, laughter and tears… trials that every couple goes through. At the final episode, just when Winnie, very tearfully and sadly, almost decided to give up on their relationship… they both realized that they “don’t want it to end.” It was a beautiful moment as they made a promise to always be together. At the epilogue, the older Kevin narrated that he graduated from high school and attended college in the United States, whereas Winnie studied art history in Paris. Kevin and Winnie continued to write to each other for the next 8 years. However, at my young idealistic age, I couldn’t accept it when older Kevin said that when Winnie returned to the United States, he met her at the airport… with his wife and eight-month-old son! Sniff! They didn’t end up together! I was 14 or 15 years old when I watched that episode… it made my young heart ache then and it still makes my heart ache now.

I don’t know why the scriptwriters made it that way, but I definitely would have loved the series more if I knew that Kevin and Winnie ended up together. Well, but I love The Wonder Years, either way!

The (almost perfect) series ended with this narrative by older Kevin:
Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house, like a lot of houses. A yard like a lot of other yards. On a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back...with wonder.
P.S. I’m still looking for a DVD of the whole series! Does anyone know where I can find it here in the Philippines?