Of birthdays and purple spandex

My next birthday is literally minutes away. I try not to think about it; I've already lived much longer than I had expected to, and as far as I'm concerned it's just another day. However, every now and then something comes along that hits you like a brick and reminds you of how quickly time passes. I had one of those moments recently.

My favorite TV show when I was a kid was Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward. The show ran from 1966 until 1968, when I was between the ages of five and seven. Now, at the age of five, you don't have a concept of sex, generally speaking. At that age you're expected to think the opposite sex is yucky and has cooties. But there was something on that show, something that made me realize there was a desirable quality about the female of the species. I didn't recognize it in the little girls I was around at school or in my neighborhood, but through the magic of television I could tell the future held something wonderful.


My vision of the future came in the form of one Yvonne Craig, who played Barbara Gordon, a/k/a Batgirl, every week on my family's television. Mild-mannered librarian by day, smoking hot crimefighter in skintight purple spandex by night, the lovely Ms. Craig stirred in this five year-old primal feelings that I wouldn't fully recognize for a number of years.

The reality check I mentioned at the beginning of this post occurred a couple of days ago when I heard on the radio that it was Yvonne Craig's birthday (May 16, to be precise). Nothing to be concerned about; birthdays happen to us all. Then fell the bomb - she was now 71 years old. How could it be? This amazingly sensual woman who had made me feel...well, something new and unknown all those years ago, was not just 71, but a scant five years younger than my septuagenarian mother? What does that say about my age? I know I'm getting older, but my cultural heroes and touchstones shouldn't be allowed to. It's just not fair.

A quick internet search shows that Yvonne Craig is still alive, has had a successful career in the field of real estate, and judging by her website is still a very beautiful woman. So, Ms. Craig, may I wish you a belated happy birthday. I hope you have many more years ahead of you, and thanks for helping a then five year-old realize that maybe girls weren't yucky and had cooties after all.