Count Von Count

A new love affair with the Count opens my eyes to the passions of life.

So, I never really watched Sesame Street as a kid. I was the third child in a home with few TV watching rules, so by the time I came around my siblings were watching Saved by the Bell and Charles In Charge and that was what I got (along with a scandalous dose of Three's Company). As for Sesame Street goes, I knew who the characters were, but that was about it.

But I started watching this classic show with my daughter a few months ago. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but I basically love it. I cave to the masses with a love for Elmo, and in spite of criticism from some, I also love newer characters like Abby and the Mexican puppet.

But my very favorite character is the count -- formally known as Count Von Count. What little I knew about the Count as a kid reminded me of the grandfather on the Monsters TV show. Transylvania? Vanpires? Well, that has always been a little scary for me and generally out of my league. But after I started watching Sesame Street, it did not take long for me to fall in love with this purple puppet. And this is why:

The Count is -- beautifully and simply -- passionate and dedicated. He loves numbers and counting with all his soul, and he wants to share that love with everybody else. I can't think of a better example for my child or myself. My heart just sort of jumps every time he takes the screen because I can feel that love. He feels real to me ... in a puppet kind of way.

Cookie Monster is passionate, but it is in a glutenous, uncontrollable way. Oscar is passionate, but it is about sadness and trash. Ernie is passionate about his duck, but it is in a sort of weird way. But the Count is passionate is a really beautiful and simple way, and I love it. Of all the characters, whenever he says, "I am just so excited" (in his cute little accent) I totally believe him.

I hope that Quinn finds something in her life that she loves so much that it makes her giggle with happiness (other than a boy.) I hope she finds a passion she wants to share with the world. Something that makes her want to jump out of bed in the morning to get the day going.

Of course, since we're Mormon, I hope she feels that way about church and God and Jesus. But I hope she finds something else too on her road to church and God and Jesus ... and Harvard.

Anyway, Ode to the Count. I love you and your passion.


Check out the most modern version of the count at http://video.sesameworkshop.org/. Or check out this Youtube clip of the count counting on a game show.

Post Script: More Youtube.com research showed that the count was in fact much creepier when I was a kid, and he is probably the real reason I did not watch the show. The beginning sequences of his segments are all thunder and lightening and scary. Over the years this theme has mellowed out, and the Count's face has become rounder and more purple.