Parks and Recreation Finale: Thank You

"Crying is acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon" - Ron Ulysses Swanson

After tonight, I'm going to add an asterisk in the quote so I may include the Parks and Recreation finale for acceptable crying occasions.

It's with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to Parks and Rec. By the end of the third season, I it would go down as one of my favorite comedies. I never predicted it would become one of my favorite television shows. I'm talking top 5 status here. Unlike most comedies, Parks grew its supporting cast just as strongly as its principle crew. Donna in the first season is nowhere near the straight up BALLER she becomes by the series finale. Tom Havertford isn't going out to fancy business meetings in the series premiere. Ron Swanson is used in too small of a caliber. Leslie Knope was just a woman version of Michael Scott. Now, Leslie Knope has become an entity of her own, embodying the good moral values the show has to offer.

There are plenty of other cynical television shows that thrive off a mean-spirited environment. Some of them do it really well too! We have enough of those. Those get picked up like nothing. Parks and Rec is a complete 180 from that approach. In place of a community snarkily making fun of Leslie and her undying optimism, her friends support her through thick and thin. It's about working hard, doing what you love, spending time with who you love, and never losing sight of what's important to you (and waffles. Don't forget waffles). the community of Pawnee didn't always see eye to eye with Leslie

The characters had their ups and downs through their careers, with the finale exemplifying their fight is never truly over, but they all got the happy endings they deserved– scratch that, they didn't just deserve them, they earned them.

Leslie and Ben's marriage in the Parks Department worked because we know how much that meant to Leslie, and not some cheap gimmick to save money. Tom's rise/fall/rise/fall/rise as a club owner to businessman, to book writer is simple but sweet. Donna gets to live her luxurious lifestyle and learns to let people into her life on a more empathetic level than her own family (poor Ginuwine). April and Andy are basically a cat and dog that got married so that's a feat within itself. Garry's ever-evolving name change was hilarious for a time and ultimately helped us connect to him more in the final season before he became Mayor of Pawnee! And seriously, how touching was it when he yelled out, "I'm flying!" And Ron, traditional woodsman American that he is (but not a bigot in any shape or form) gets to spend his days doing trail surveys and spending time with his family. They all became the best versions of themselves, and it's all thanks to Leslie Knope.

Leslie's strong beliefs in equality and helping people is more heroic than some superheroes nowadays. In a world of naysayers and troublemakers, you can always count on Leslie Knope to stand up for what is right. She's stubborn as hell and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps my favorite of these character evolutions is Benjamin Wyatt's growth from huge failure of a politician to Congressman. We all fall short from time to time. It's how we pick ourselves up after that defines who we are.

Parks and Rec is about as personal as a show can get for me. I've never been involved directly with any government branch by any means, but it inspired me early in its run to do better.

To clarify some of what, I was going through a large transitionary period when I began watching this show. I had watched religiously but I wasn't into it, if you get my meaning. I had failed hard around the time Season 2 was just finishing up. I flunked out of a school. Nothing in life has affected me like this did. My first huge failure as a human being. It changed everything about me from my eating patterns, to my mood, and there was a time when I just stopped caring about everything.

On my down time from my new school, I'd watch old episodes of Parks and Recreation (turns out laziness at a good school translated to boredom and good grades in a new one). I wasn't sure why at the time but there I was, in my state of sadness, and this little show could bring me joy for just 22 minutes an episode, without fail. I wanted to show everyone this show. I connected to it in a way I never had before. A show a built on the foundation of healthy relationships and community? Could there have been anything I needed more at that particular moment of my life? Probably not.

As the series carried on and continued to evolve, so did my interests in aspirations. Leslie Knope and the Parks department had begun inspiring me. Throughout the series, there were funny little connections that correlated to my events in real life.

• I'll never forget the third season began on January 20th, 2011 because appendicitis put me out of commission for a week until 'Flu Season' aired.
• I cried about how happy the Ben and Leslie episode made me on Tumblr and I met my good friend Schyler Martin. She would eventually hook me up with the folks at Audiences Everywhere so I owe her a few beers. Waffles too.
• An old and close friend moved away not long before Ann and Chris left Pawnee.

Of course these are all just crazy coincidences but the fact of the matter is Parks touched me deeply in a way that no other show could. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who connected with the show because they had fallen on hard times. That's the ultimate message of the show I think. Yeah, we all fall down our own pits. We just have to learn to dust ourselves off, gather our own little team, and get back out there. "Work hard at work worth doing" I mean, I've still got a long way to go with this whole writing thing. But I'm with the direction I'm headed.

I guess, in a way, we all fell into the pit. A little pit called Pawnee. Thank you, Parks and Recreation. I'll never forget you. I have no idea what happens next but I do know one thing, I'm ready.