Raise your hand if you are a This is Us fan! Me too, me too! How about that tearjerker of a Super Bowl episode, huh? And it all started with a little old Crock Pot.

If you haven't been following along, in last week's episode, This is Us patriarch Jack Pearson cleaned up after the big game and turned off their Crock Pot. But, it had a short and it sparked causing a house fire. We all knew the fire was going to kill Jack. We had to wait until this week's episode to find out how it happened.

After last week's episode, the Crock Pot brand had a lot of damage control to face. I mean for heaven's sake, their product killed the most beloved man in America! It doesn't matter if he isn't real. HE'S DEAD AND CROCK POT IS TO BLAME. The long-standing brand took to social media and even started the #CrockPotIsInnocent movement. 

I, like many Americans, had a Crock Pot meal planned the next day and I seriously hesitated before setting the slow cooker to make my meal. Was God telling me and everyone else in the free world to just use the Instant Pot when I got home? <<bites fingernails in a panic>> I went on to use the Crock Pot because I didn't get the feeling... The feeling that this was God telling me to listen up. I've had that feeling before and this wasn't it.

Now, you might or might not believe in a Higher Power but I do. I see His blessings and guidance in my life on a daily basis. And, I believe that God loves me unconditionally and has plans for my life. And, I think He used a TV show to save my life.

I used to be a big fan of Grey's Anatomy, back when the main characters were all interns. Now that Meredith owns the hospital and all that jazz, not so much. But, back in the day, I would religiously watch the show. It helped that everyone said I looked like Izzy Stevens who was played by Katherine Heigl. She had her annoying moments, as we all do, but she was my favorite character.

Ashley S/Getty Images
I'm on the left, and Ms. Heigl is on the right. Ashley S/Getty Images
loading...

In the fifth season, I watched on baited breath as Izzy was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma because of a mole on her back. Know why I was so into this story line? It wasn't as provocative or suspenseful as the Carver season of Nip/Tuck, nor did sustain the emotional turmoil as this season of This Is Us. What kept my undivided attention was that the character that looked kind of like me on this TV show had a mole on her back in the same place that I did. Just a coincidence? Yes.

It wasn't until one of the final episodes of the season when Izzy's mother, Robbie, came to visit, that I heard God calling me through a TV show. When Izzy is laying in a hospital bed about the die, her mother joins her and calls her Cricket. That's kind of an unusual nickname, right? Guess whose parents gave her the same nickname! I almost fell off the couch. The writers must have thought back to those days of Cricket on the Young and the Restless, just like my mom. Though modified to Krickett, this was my family nickname, AOL screen name, email address, and pen name.

I took it as a sign and called the dermatologist the next day. My mother had been after me for as long as I could remember to get it removed anyway and even when I was a baby, the doc told us to watch it. And, my dad battled and beat skin cancer when I was in high school. Seriously, God had to take out time on the hottest TV show in America to get through to me even though there were already so many things in my life pointing to this mole being dangerous. It's almost embarrassing to think about it.

Upon hearing my reasoning for being in his office, he rolled his eyes at me but indulged my whim. After taking a look at the mole, he told me that it needed to come off. It was large and had irregular borders. Without wasting time, he numbed me, cut it off my back, and sent it in for analysis.

Thankfully, it was not cancerous but I believe that had I let it go, it would have been a big problem for me later in life.

So, if you threw out your Crock Pot and unplugged all kitchen appliances after watching This Is Us, you have no judgment from me. I believe God spoke to me through Grey's Anatomy. Maybe He was speaking to you through Jack.

LaDonne Craig
LaDonne Craig
loading...

Here's a pic of my scar. The second most beautiful scar I have. The most beautiful is a big smile on my belly where my daughter made her debut into the world.

More From WOMI-AM