Soap opera memories

Hi neighbors. Are you a "soap opera" addict? There is only one show I remember watching much of and I can't remember now if it was "Days of Our Lives" or "Another World." My mother watched both and I got them confused.

The story line I remember from the '60s and '70s was about one family -- that of Dr. and Mrs. Horton -- and their children and grandchildren.

I can't remember all their names. There was a surgeon brother who may have been David or Dick and then a lawyer brother named Mickey who married first Laura then Maggie. There were at least two sisters.

There was one sister whose name I can't remember and another sister who was a nun.

The nun (who it was revealed much later, had long-ago affair with the head "bad guy" and had a daughter who showed up briefly and then left the show to be on "Orca" a prime time show about a helicopter.)

One of the most popular characters was Laura, who dated both brothers, married Mickey and had a son, Mike. My daughter became a fan in her late 20s and while visiting her I discovered that Laura had been sent away to a psychiatric hospital and her later children (I don't know who fathered them) raised by someone else. Her "children" being a set of twins I can't remember anything about.

There was also Julie. I was never certain who her parents were, but she was the granddaughter of Doctor Horton. She had a child as an unwed teen mother and her lawyer uncle Mickey helped her arrange an adoption. Later she wanted the child back and said he coerced her into giving her son up for adoption. As I recall, this early Julie was a schemer and wanted to cause misery to her best friend who was also the rival for the father of her son, but not for long as Julie shot that boyfriend and may have injured the rival as well. The rival became a concert pianist in the story line and left the show.

Julie left the show for a while and showed up later to seduce her mother's new husband, Doug, away from her dying mother who had put off cancer treatment to have their baby -- Hope -- who is still on the show I believe.

After her mother's death, Julie and Doug married and raised Hope together. During this time, Doug and Julie became one of the most popular couples in soap opera history. They were actually married in real life.

There was another popular character on the show that played a psychiatrist who agreed to have a surrogate baby for someone unknown on the show. This was arranged by a doctor who was not the most virtuous person, but who was a gambler I think, although not a very good one, and who had to arrange these "not quite legal" adoptions to raise money.

This woman also stared on a TV show for kids as Electrica or some such at the time she started on the soap opera. She later stared in "Our House" with Walter Brimley.

Since the Horton family contained two or three doctors and one lawyer, the hospital was a popular scene for most of the shows. The Horton house was also used a lot.

At one time a bar became a scene used a lot. This was after the Other Brother, who was originally dating Laura and lost her to Mickey, was working as a piano player after he suffered some injury to his hands. Prior to the injury he was a "world renowned" brain surgeon.

The son of uncertain fatherhood, Mike, was on the show as a child, and then periodically when the storyline needed a little drama. I don't know if his parentage was ever finally revealed, but I think Mickey was ruled out at least once or twice because of childhood mumps.

Mike returned to the show, my daughter said, after years abroad, convinced that he too wanted to be a doctor.

After Mickey and Laura split up, Mickey gave up his lawyer job, grabbed a guitar and hitchhiked around the country to "find himself." Along the way he found Maggie, a rural red haired farm gal who had suffered some injury and was paralyzed from the waist down. Mickey dragged her home to his now completely cured and all-forgiving brother who did surgery and gave her back the use of her legs. Just in time to walk down the aisle to marry Mickey.

Soap operas! Which one has you hooked? Until the next time friends remember if you think your life has problems, watch a soap opera.