Best Birthday gift ever

I suppose these things happen to everyone. I can not say that Dixie Carter was a friend, but I had met her, back in the 80's, just as her TV show was in rehearsals. It is a very long story, it involves a long lost love, a strange yacht that I called home and a box of cereal that I gave to Dixie for her birthday.

Dixie was married to Hal Holbrook, who at the time was one of the finest character actors in the country. She was just cast as the lead in a new TV show, Designing Women. A friend was working on the show, invited me to some rehearsals, one thing led to another and one night, Dixies car would not start. I believe it was a Jaguar, which apparently had a reputation for breaking down. So my friend and I gave her a ride home.

During the ride, which was one of those Hollywood moments that almost anyone outside of Southern California would not believe, she was gracious and funny. We got along wonderfully. We laughed almost all the way to her Beverly Hills home and she invited both of us over for her birthday party the next night.

This was a time in my life where I was living on a yacht and writing scripts for a living.

The next night my friend picked me up, he had a huge box of chocolates and an elaborate card. I had not picked up anything. At the time I had a reputation as being something of a bohemian clown, so I could almost get away with anything. We stopped at a grocery store, I bought a box of cereal, Lucky Charms sounds right, but I forget the exact brand. I did not wrap it, but I signed it, To Dixie, love you always, Matt.

We got the her house, she welcomed us. Her beautiful daughters were there, as we Mr. Holbrook, "call me Hal" he growled in that familiar voice. The house was beautiful and refined. I did stumble across a room with a lot of awards, emmys and such, from Holbrooks long and distinguished career. The rest of the night is a blur, not just alcohol, but a vast variety of other things have clouded my memory. What is quite clear is that when Dixie saw the cereal, and that I had autographed it, she laughed that wonderful true beautiful laugh. She hugged me, the world stood still, all was right.

I can not say I will miss Dixie. We never stayed in touch. Soon after meeting, I escaped Los Angeles, never to return. I never watched the episodes I saw rehearsed, never paid much attention to the show, for deeply personal and professional reasons. For me, Dixie will always be a woman who was profoundly real, very sweet and could laugh and make you forget anything else was important.