My Guiding Light Memoirs • Chapter 1 Extra: While everyone else fell in love with Paris, I was scheming to call home for Guiding Light spoilers.

READ CHAPTER ONE HERE

I shared a story about going on a high school trip to tour France and using my weekly phone call home to get the latest updates about Guiding Light.

What I didn’t fully include was that my mother wanted to talk about my trip, not about a soap opera.

It was the summer of 1990, and all I cared about was my soap. At Monet’s garden in Giverny, where he painted his famous Water Lilies, I wondered if Reva was dead yet. As I stared into the reflection of a weeping willow tree in the garden pond, I imagined the many ways Reva’s death could happen. 

Because I was an avid reader of the soap magazines, I knew Kim Zimmer was leaving Guiding Light. I resolved to use my weekly phone calls to get soap spoilers from my mom. 

The first week, I called before Guiding Light was scheduled to air on TV. Our conversation was all about France, and at the end I asked what was happening on the show. 

My mom shut me down, saying this was a costly international call, “Watch it when you get home. Love you, bye.” 

Click.

Yes, we used to have to pay for long-distance phone calls, and international calls were not cheap.

I devised a plan for my next phone call. I would call home when Guiding Light was on television. My mother wouldn’t be able to stop herself from talking about it if I pushed the right buttons.

Week two’s call time came for all of us high schoolers, and our chaperone told us we would go to the pay phones in small groups. It was only 8:30 p.m. Paris time. I needed it to be 9 p.m. so the show was on when I called home. 

I skipped the first round. By 8:45 p.m., they were back. I let another wave go. It worked perfectly. They returned in 15 minutes, so I jumped up to go with the next group.

When we got to the payphone, it was 9:05 p.m., perfect timing. I picked up the payphone receiver and heard that distinctive European dial tone. I dialed an international calling code and our home phone number on the metal keypad. As the phone began to ring, I was filled with excitement.

“Hello,” Mom answered. 

“Hi, it’s me,” I said. We didn’t have caller ID yet.

“Daniel, we miss you,” Mom said. “Peach, it’s Daniel.”

“Hi, Daniel,” my sister Peach shouted in the background. “Reva!”

My plan was already working.

“What did you see this week?” Mom asked with genuine interest.

“Lots. It’s amazing. Did you know they drink hot chocolate for breakfast here? They dip their croissants in it.” 

I was just killing time before the topic turned to my show. After I shared my experience at the Eiffel Tower, I asked how everyone was doing.

“Well, nothing’s different here. Just watching my stories with Peach,” Mom said.

She fell right into my trap. 

“Oh, what’s on now? What time is it even?” I played dumb. “It’s a little after 9 p.m. here.”

“Guiding Light’s on. You’re going to have a lot to catch up on. It’s so good right now,” Mom said without realizing I had baited her.

Just then, I heard Peach say, “What now?!”

Something good just happened. The first block of the show must’ve just gone to commercial, I thought.

So I asked what happened.

“I’m not telling you! It will spoil the surprise,” Mom scolded. “You’ll have to catch up when you get back. I’ve been making sure the VCR is recording. So far, no problems.”

I was annoyed. “Just tell me what happened,” I demanded.

“Nope, you can catch up when you get home. Now tell me about France. What else did you see?”

“Just tell me,” I begged.

“It’s Reva,” Mom caved. “Her depression is getting worse.”

Reva was still alive. That’s all I needed to know, so I chatted more about my trip. I knew it was my only way to get future intel. Suddenly, we heard a beep on the phone. My prepaid calling card was running out, so I explained, and we said our goodbyes.

I did it! I smiled as I hung up the phone. I pictured a manic and depressed Reva in my mind. As I left the phone booth, another student from the trip took my place.

The next week, I pulled the same scam during my weekly call. This time, I successfully talked Mom into turning up the volume so I could hear a scene. She did it.

“Let me listen,” I begged. “Please?”

Surprisingly, Mom turned up the TV, and she went silent for about 30 seconds as I listened to Reva. I couldn’t understand what she was saying. It was an awful tease!

Mom returned to the phone. “Just wait until you get back. Guiding Light just keeps getting better.”

Looking back, I laugh so hard at this. First of all, what a little schemer. 

Secondly, my mom actually did it. She turned up the TV and paid money for an international phone call, so her son could listen in on Guiding Light.

My poor parents. They sent their kid to France for some culture, and he calls home to listen in on the slut of Springfield as her mental health spirals into psychosis.

When I returned home, I watched all of my episodes in less than a week. Peach watched them with me. She was a great sidekick.

I caught up just in time to watch Reva drive off that bridge in Florida on live TV, rather than a recording. 

What a moment in Guiding Light history. 

Josh had taken Reva to the Florida Keys to snap her out of her depression. But instead, Reva had delusions, thought someone was chasing after her, and raced through the Florida Keys in her bright red car to escape them. 

Reva drove through a road closed sign and eventually drove herself off a bridge by the end of the episode. Talk about a cliffhanger.

Josh was devastated. Peach was too. I was kind of excited to see what would happen without Reva on the show. I loved Alexandra Spaulding and hoped she’d get more airtime. Did she ever. 

I have to admit, I welcomed Reva’s return from the dead as an Amish amnesiac because it led to the crazy Annie Dutton years. 

Then they brought in a clone!

One More Story for the Road

Leading up to Reva’s presumed death, Springfield pariah Roger Thorpe took racy photographs of a vulnerable Reva and then blackmailed her with them. It was scandalous at the time, even for the town slut. 

I remember watching that boudoir photoshoot with Peach, who was mesmerized. 

Reva was wearing lingerie. “Shame,” Peach said while rubbing her index fingers over each other as she admonished Reva for her sins.

At one point during the shoot, Reva grabbed a rose and put it between her teeth. 

“Oh my cow!” Peach screamed. 

Then Peach acted like she was putting her own rose between her teeth by biting her index finger and posing, with her other hand under her bobbed hairstyle. She was posing like Reva, and she found it hilarious. I did too.

She started doing the pose anytime Reva was on the screen, even when she wasn’t. 

Imagine Peach’s surprise when Reva returned six years later in Amish Country. The first thing she did was put that invisible rose between her teeth and howl, “Reva!”

CHAPTER 1 BONUS ESSAY HERE: PEACH STEALS THE SHOW

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Coming Soon: Chapter 2

Keep an eye out for Chapter 2 of my Guiding Light Memoirs in July. I pull back the curtain and step backstage for the first time. You might be surprised to learn what the first thing I did backstage was. If you like these stories, please share my writing with other Guiding Light fans. They’ll love you for it.

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Memoir Note

This memoir is based on my personal experiences. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.