Being Henry

Growing up during the ’80s, we watched a lot of TV: Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons, The Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, All in the Family. (And that’s just some of the older shows that we watched. We also watched just about every current TV show at that time.)

When I heard that Henry Winkler aka “The Fonz” from Happy Days was coming to town to talk about his new memoir, I bought tickets immediately. He’s an icon, a national treasure. Not only is he a famous actor, director, and producer, but he’s also co-authored almost 40 children’s books and speaks widely about dyslexia, which he was diagnosed with in his 30s. Yes, his 30s.

His talk was great; he was charming, humble, and laugh-out-loud funny. He singled out a few children in the audience and gave them encouragement. He briefly alluded to having a rough childhood and spoke about how his life has changed since he started therapy in recent years.

There were roughly 500 people in the audience, and he didn’t have time to sign books then and there (but we all received an autographed bookplate with the book that we were required to buy for admittance). BUT, he took photos with all of us.

There was only time to say hello and thank him for his work, but he grabbed onto me like we were old friends. It was sweet. I recently read his memoir and really enjoyed learning about his journey through Hollywood and his personal highs and lows. Highly recommend it if you’re interested!