A Friend in My Head

 

If you lived here you’d know that the best fireworks are at the Lakefront, the best local fundraiser is the Howard County Library’s Evening in the Stacks, and the best free concerts and community events are at the Chrysalis.

If you lived here your street name might be literary, or silly, or just plain weird. You could walk and bike on the pathways and swim in neighborhood pools. You’d pick up your mail at a community mailbox.

If you lived here you might have gotten lost once or twice trying to find a friend’s house. You’d develop an appreciation for cul-de-sacs and be familiar with house names like Pacesetter, Banner, and Revere.

If you lived here…

The DC-Centric real estate show “If You Lived Here” made its debut in February of 2021. It wasn’t long before I was hooked.

I’ve become a fan of the WETA show, “If You Lived Here” which highlights homes and neighborhoods in (and adjacent to) the DC area. It’s beautifully filmed and produced but still maintains a rather goofy quality of what would happen if you and your best friend got to tour houses and make your own tv show….I keep hoping they‘ll come to Columbia/HoCo but I don’t know if we’re close enough.- - Village Green/Town² 

The subject matter was fascinating but it was the relationship of the hosts, best friends Christine Louise and John Begeny, that made it habit-forming. You could see that they were genuinely having fun and you wanted to be a part of that. The show inspired two of my blog posts.

Reston on My Mind, Village Green/Town², February 15, 2022

More Than Real Estate , Village Green/Town², February 6, 2023

It was my dream that Christine and John would film a show in Columbia and that I would get to meet them. Well, they did come to Columbia but I didn’t learn of it until it was too late. I missed my chance. 

Photo from Columbia Association social media, May 23, 2023

All disappointment aside, I’ve been looking forward to seeing the episode they filmed here in the upcoming season of IYLH.

Friday I opened an email from WETA to see this: 

Cohost John Begeny died on Monday after a brief battle with cancer. He was only fifty-five. 

I felt stunned and disbelieving as though I had lost someone I knew. When I went to social media to see if there were any others who felt the same way , I found comment after comment expressing similar sentiments. One person worded it much the way I felt, saying, “He was like our friend in our head.”

Yes, it is “just a television show”. I know there is a difference between people we see in films or on television and those we know in real life. I’m not confused about those boundaries. But something about this show reaches through the screen and connects with people. How sad it is to lose someone like Begeny who loved what he did so much and shared his enjoyment in such an easy and relatable way. 

I will keep an eye out for the Columbia episode and let you know when it will be airing.

I am really, really sad that I did not know they were going to be in town for filming. It would truly have been a once in a lifetime experience.