It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Men World

Mad woMan, Lauren

Adam and I are avid couch potatoes.  Our favorite moments are when we are sitting around, doing nothing, watching television together. And as newlyweds, our couch potato habits haven't actually changed very much.  Even though we purchased a brand new kitchen table and chairs for our apartment, we have only eaten at it a handful of times.  The table has become a catch-all for immigration paperwork and where I sit to write my blog.  Most nights we fix dinner, then fix ourselves in front of the TV for a marathon of our favorite show of the moment.  Right now that show is Mad Men.


Although Adam had already watched it all, I was (way) behind the times, and had never even caught a single episode.  As we were settling into our spots on the sofa one Saturday morning, our plates heaped with cheesy omelets and bacon, Adam turned on the very first episode of Mad Men.  From that long overdue moment, I was transfixed by the story of 1960's ad man Don Draper and his colleagues on Madison Avenue.  The stories, the sets, the costumes... what's not to love?


We have nearly finished watching our way through the fourth season, and it's going to be a long wait until new episodes begin airing next year.  But honestly, I am kind of looking forward to our hiatus.  When you are immersed in a marathon of Mad Men episodes, you can't help but feel like a character yourself.


I am not a smoker.  But after watching the characters puff through countless cartons of cigarettes (not to mention the drinks!), I find myself craving a cigarette... or at the very least a drink (or two).  So if a non-smoker like myself, feels compelled to smoke it's no wonder that Adam has been having trouble sticking with his plan to quit.  I wouldn't be surprised if there is an increase in cigarette sales during any given Mad Men season.  After a brief relapse, Adam is back to the Nicotine gum.  I can't say that I mind the slip-ups or that I even blame him (the last several weeks have been stressful at work).  I just hope that he doesn't quit trying to quit.


Because I have too much time on my hands, Adam and I took a quiz on AMC's Mad Men page to find out which characters we are most like.  As he predicted, Adam is a Pete Campbell (who oddly enough, is one of the few characters that does not smoke), ambitiously working his way up the corporate ladder.  I feared that I would be a Betty Draper, but was relieved to be likened to Salvatore Romano, the former art director at Sterling Cooper.  (whew!)  I'd gladly be compared to a highly creative, closeted gay man over an immature housewife any day.


I can attest that it is isolating to be a housewife when everyone you know works and you don't speak the local language.  I made it nearly a month, but I finally became really homesick last week.  Luckily, I have Adam for a husband and not Don Draper.  Adam heroically made it through my crying melt down, and then helped me pick out a French class to ensure that I will not become a bored housewife.  He made me feel a thousand times better - but I must admit, I feel silly for getting so upset.  I have an amazing opportunity to live in a new country, learn a new language, and meet new people.  I can't help missing my family and friends, but I think it would be really unfortunate if I spent too much of my time here crying about it.  Hopefully, I won't have more Betty Draper moments.

Mad Man, Adam

As for homesickness, I think Don Draper's pitch to Kodak at the end of the first season says it best: "Nostalgia - it's delicate, but potent.  Teddy told me that in Greek, "nostalgia" literally means "the pain from an old wound".  It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.  This device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine.  It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again.  It's not called the wheel, it's called the carousel.  It let's us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved."