When it appeared fairly certain that my grandmother would live to see her 100th birthday, I did a GOOGLE search for Willard Scott and found his website and the requisite forms to complete for submitting Mam-ma Polly's name for consideration as one of the centenarians featured on Willard's segment during NBC's "The TODAY Show." Sponsored by Smucker's, the celebrants' photos are superimposed on a Smucker's jelly jar label, and Scott tells a little something about the honoree. The information on the website stated that the forms had to be submitted at least six weeks prior to the actual birthday. Since Mam-ma's birthday was November 5th, I sent the forms in early September.
The information also stated that either we would receive a phone call to let us know that our centenarian would be featured... or the honoree would receive a card in the mail. Neither happened. Shortly before Christmas, I cleaned off my desk... and I threw away all paper work related to this endeavor. I decided I must have failed to complete the forms correctly or something.
December 22nd, our telephone rang, and Caller ID said the number was "PRIVATE". Since this is what shows when the Hospice nurses call, I feared the worst... but I answered. The caller was a gentleman from Willard Scott's office. He apologized for the delay, explaining that they were behind on airing the segments, but my grandmother was scheduled to be featured on Monday, December 24th, between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. He asked about our time zone, and I told him we were on Central Time. He explained that the segment would air on the East Coast between 8:00 and 9:00 - and repeat for us the following hour. He said, "Set your DVR for 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m." I set mine for 7:00 - 11:00!!
So I let EVERYONE know! I made sure all televisions at the facility would be turned on and set to the appropriate channel. My mom let the church administrators know, and they made a BIG SPLASH about it Sunday morning at Mam-ma's church. I think everyone in our community of about 7,000 people sat glued to their TVs Monday morning... along with family members and friends from coast to coast. And Willard Scott was not on. They did segments on all sorts of things, from ugly Christmas sweaters to revealing the sex of a baby expected by an Olympic volleyball champion... but no Willard Scott.
So we regrouped and set the DVRs for Christmas Day. This time, Scott was on... and a long segment aired, featuring several centenarians... but no Mam-ma Polly! Would she ever be featured? That afternoon, the phone rang again, and the same man apologized and said they were still very behind, and he thought that Mam-ma's segment would air on December 26th. I told him how disappointed we were, and he kept saying, "We have no control over what they do... the segments are pre-recorded, and we don't know when they will air." So we regrouped once again.
Wednesday morning, a friend posted on Facebook that she was spending the holidays in New York City, and she had just seen Mam-ma Polly on Willard Scott's segment! So I started letting people know that we WOULD see the feature. Sure enough, somewhere around 8:30 a .m., Central Time, Willard Scott's birthday feature aired... and there was Mam-ma on a Smucker's label! Soooooooooo... in case you missed it... here is my Mam-ma Polly... now forever known throughout America for her peanut brittle! I hope you enjoy it! (Watch all the way... she's almost the last one featured!)
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