by Rhonda Grice

Created on: January 21, 2008

Small town magic is what Mayberry USA brought to the screen and to the hearts of everyone who watched the Andy Griffith series. The show became popular because of the whole package. From the family man who was a widower left with a small child to raise to the lazy day living and white picket fence.

The Andy Griffith show had people glued to the television set every week waiting to see what mischief Barney would get into or what Opie was struggling with or what Aunt Bea was cooking.

Andy had a calm way about him that made everyone come to him for answers which he always answered with a moral outcome. We new that Sheriff Taylor would never do anything underhanded. And you could alway find out what was going on in the town by heading over to Floyd's barber shop for the latest gossip.

As wonderful as it was to hear Andy sing, the show was funny because of the sheriff's sidekick, Barney Fife. No matter how hard Barney tried to be a professional deputy, he always mucked things up! Laugh after laugh came from watching his antics with Andy playing the straight part. It was like watching Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, they played off each other so well.

Barney was such a large part of the show, along with his girlfriend, Thelma Lou. She loved him no matter what he'd done and always left big patches of lipstick all over Barney's face.

Endearing to us all was little Opie. This freckled face child always went to his dad to help him learn how to solve his childhood problems. Andy always coached and nudged in the right direction but ultimately let Opie make his own decisions. Of course on television, Opie always made the right and moral decision.

The Andy Griffith show and Mayberry is the dream town and life for a lot of people. With so much crime going on and life being so fast paced, we all like to dream of living in a peaceful place where life was a lot simpler.

Is there a real Mayberry or is the Mayberry lifestyle dream only a myth? Well, I'd like to believe that life is what we make of it. Treat your neighbors and family like you want to be treated and always do the moral thing when making decision. We all have a little Mayberry in us.

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