Google Doodle pays charming tribute to Lucille Ball on her 100th

For more than thirty years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into unparalleled fiascoes. Clumsy and unsophisticated at nearly everything she tried (and she tried nearly everything), the television Lucy won the hearts of average Americans across all social and cultural lines with her wacky schemes. Ironically, it was Ball’s wide range of experience and talents that made her such a success in this role.

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In today's high tech world with so many diversions from the humdrum of daily life, these later generations will never know of the comfort and fun Lucy brought into the lives of both young and old of her era. When "I Love Lucy" came on, the older people would take a break from nagging their young, and the youths were entertained by the abject silliness of how wrong good intentions could go. In short, it was a real family hour, especially for people whose lives were wracked with the pains of poverty, privation, as well as those better off, whose attention to routine made their lives and the lives of their sibilings tedious, among other things. There just weren't as many distractions that could engage family members across the generational gap and get them all laughing hysterically.

For me, when visiting my aunts, who had a penchant for nagging and fault finding, Lucy came on at precisely the right time to put a halt to the tirades and make a real visit of the rest of the day. After all, after what Lucy got into, what was there to nag anyone about? Lol.