My #newtowho story

I always meant to do this before now. I really did.

The BBC asked viewers during a commercial break for Asylum of the Daleks to tweet our our first experience with Doctor Who. 

Well, mine is too much for a tweet. SO I'm tweeting the link to this post.

My new to Who story begins in the spring of 2011. A friend from college was visiting me, and I knew she liked Doctor Who. So we did the adult thing and watched British sci-fi on a Saturday morning as we ate our pajamas. I told myself "I'll put it on because she likes it, but I'm not getting into this business."

That didn't work out the way I intended. BBC America was doing a re-run of "The Pandorica Opens" which we caught the tail end of, and "Big Bang Two." When we got the the end of The Pandorica Opens, I thought "Ok, I'm not addicted, but I have to know how it ends." By the end of the last episode, I was absolutely enchanted with the mad man and his blue box. 

I watched a few episodes with her over Spring term, sporadically. 

Then, I was dumped. I mean over-the-phone, unceremoniously dumped by the guy I was madly in love with about three weeks before finals. It tore me apart. May and early June of 2011 were some of my darkest times. I still had fun, my friends made sure of that. But I wasn't the same. 

Then the friend who introduced me to Doctor Who let me leech off her Netflix account so I could watch all the seasons on my long, lonely summer back in Roy. 

The Doctor literally saved my life. 

From the moment I watched the very first episode ever, even the most fleeting thoughts of ending my life, which had still occasionally flitted through my head, vanished completely. 

I watched Rose and the Doctor take off on adventures, and my faith in men was restored, completely. Here was a good, kind, attractive man (Time Lord, I know, but male) who was selfless and loving. I had lost faith that men like that existed after the breakup. But not only was The Doctor so good, he also saw and brought out the best in every human life he touched. The writing and acting on that show resuscitated my faith in the potential of every person.

I wept without restraint at Bad Wolf Bay, my own pain mirrored by the pain of The Doctor's separation from Rose. It helped me let out my second wave of sadness, alone in my room, unfettered.

Most of all, it kept me remembering that there is so much more to life than mediocrity--that we can be and do so much more.

To every person who has ever been involved in this wonderful show, I cannot thank you enough. Your efforts have saved my life and made it brighter. Every character on that show has taught me something and inspired me, as have the writers and actors who bring it to life--their stories give me hope for my own dreams, especially chief fanboys David Tennant and Steven Moffat.  But also Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill--and of course Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner for bringing the series back.

{Here is a fun tribute video David, John, and Catherine made for their last wrap party}

Thank you, all of you, for making my life fuller and brighter. All of you have forever changed and saved my life.