For as long as I can remember, Pat Sajak had been the host of Wheel of Fortune.
Recently, the final episode in his decades long run as host of the game show aired and his final goodbye to the fans of the show was absolutely wonderful.
First, I want to tell you the deep connection I have to the show. Now, I know you might be wondering why a guy in his early forties has such a strong connection with a game show.
Well, there’s a lot of layers to it. I was blessed with a grandmother that lived to be nearly a hundred years old. Long into my adulthood, when I would act as the designated “relative that lives the closest” and would perform the duties one would expect of someone in that position.
Which meant I was over at her house helping granny with everything that I could.
Something about my granny, she never had cable. I mean like ever. Sure, she would watch shows on cable if she was visiting relatives out of town, or was staying in a hotel. She just never cared to pay for television.
The “regular” channels as she called them were enough for her. Which meant that every evening, rain or shine, she would watch Wheel of Fortune.
Shoot, we had a power outage once in our town that lasted a few days. I go over the night the power went out and she is on her back porch, watching Wheel on a portable televison.
The woman lived for that show. She said she loved it because it was enough of a challenge for folks while not needing to have read every book in the library to know the answer.
Even on the day she died, she watched Wheel of Fortune. She was in the hospital with heart failure. She had just turned 96 a few days prior.
According to the nurses, she had finished watching and about ten minutes later she lost consciousness and never woke up.
I still get tears in my eyes thinking about how the thing she loved most was the last thing she did.
Which is why Sajak’s goodbye was perfect. He said what the show was all about, a place where anyone young and old could sit for a little and enjoy themselves.
