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Northwest Living: Laughing through the tears
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Anonymous user Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments If you've been listening to the Dean and Rachel show for any length of time, you know that our goal in the morning is to pretty much get you off to a good start. We try to make you laugh, make you think, and relay a little bit of our lives in the hope we're making a connection with you.

Our job is easy (for us). And, most mornings we laugh so hard we have to turn off the microphone!

For the past few weeks, however, things have been a little "off" for the Dean and Rachel part of the Dean and Rachel show.

A little while back, I wrote an article that you may have read in The Bakersfield Californian and on Northwestvoice.com. It dealt with the horrific ending of my first marriage. Then Dean and I talked about the story on the air and your calls and emails poured in, telling us that while you didn't have the exact same experience, something similar had happened to you or someone you knew.

The show took on a more serious tone — something we had planned for, ahead of time, knowing we'd get back to the humor soon.

Then without warning, Dean's father and grandfather, who both had been sick for a while, were suddenly hospitalized at the same time. He broke down on the air and again your sweet calls poured in.

While everyone's experiences are different, all pain is the same.

In an effort to turn some of the negative vibes into positive ones, we decided to go back again to my story and plan a show around helping women who may be in bad relationships.

Again, we knew it wasn't going to be (as Dean always says) "feel-good radio", but we weren't feeling too great lately anyway. So, we figured we'd try it.

Dean and I invited the Alliance Against Family Violence to the show along with my mother and friends. We planned to take off all the music and just talk for two hours.
The show was set for a week ago today, and I was secretly praying beforehand that Dean's father and grandfather would make miraculous recoveries, so he would have no worries.

Two days before what we dubbed "Our Big Show," Dean's dad died.
I was ready to postpone everything because I knew what he was going through.
You know, the feeling that you're drunk when you haven't had any alcohol, the sadness, the forgetfulness, and gut wrenching grief you feel when you realize you will never see that person you love so deeply here on earth again. It's enough to take a couple of weeks off work in most cases.

Not Dean's case.

No, he like many people NEEDED work to keep his thoughts from drifting off to the pain.

To my surprise, he insisted on doing the show that day. And, he did it well, even lifting the mood with his funny wit when things got too serious.

He was more articulate and smooth than he had been in weeks. He said he owed it to his dad, the man who taught him his work ethic.

In what I imagine was his grief-driven haze, he managed to keep it together when a man called in crying about how he was a wife-beater. He also managed a genuine belly laugh when my mom spoke of coloring the drugs she sold years ago to match whatever holiday was in season.

I was impressed, even though I know months from now he'll say, "I have no idea how I pulled that show off, Rachel."

Together we pulled off a show that is actually the launching pad for a new program we're starting at the station to help girls, ages 15 to 24, in bad relationships. The project is in it's infancy, so I can't give you all the details yet.

What I can tell you though, it’s what I told Dean the day after his dad died.

Everything will again return to normal with the ebb and flow of time.

Most of you know that time is the great healer, a bottle of wine doesn't hurt either.

We haven't gone completely off our rockers, but like you, we are human.

Even when our day is in the toilet, by 5 a.m. we will always try and brighten yours by listening to your calls and suggestions.

However, it means so much to us that you continue to support us as much for our tears as you have our laughter.

E-mail Rachel at: rlegan@liveradio.com

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