My husband surprised me with a new ring tone last week It’s the theme to the Donna Reed Show, a sit-com that premiered in 1959 and ran eight seasons. The show was wonderful, and now whenever my phone rings I become ridiculously happy, no matter who it is.

I found the Donna Reed Show last year on www.hulu.com, and usually watch a couple of episodes whenever I feel like I’m living in a science fiction novel. A person can only handle so much news about global warming, computer hackers and the bad economy.

In case you can’t place Donna Reed, she played Jimmy Stewart’s wife in It’s a Wonderful Life. She’s a few years older in the show, but just as beautiful and talented.

On her show, Donna Reed plays Donna Stone, a housewife and mother of two: Jeff (Paul Peterson), is the wise-cracking younger brother who wears chinos and button-down shirts (his part is actually very funny); and Mary (Shelley Fabares), who is more serious and sports full skirts, cardigans and a ponytail. Their dad, Dr. Alex Stone (played by the handsome Carl Betz), is a pediatrician whose office is attached to the house. He’s not as funny as Bill Cosby, but then, nobody is.

I like Donna because she was unusual for a female TV star in those days – she used her brains to figure things out in a calm, rational way. Lucille Ball was a clown. Beaver Cleaver’s mother June always waited till Ward got home.

The show didn’t have a heavy-hitting storyline; just everyday crises. But in dealing with them, Donna Stone modeled to America that parents need to take time to understand their kids, be involved and empathetic. That’s a message we still need today.

When my phone rings, no matter what kind of day I’m having, I have to smile.  It takes me back to a time when the milk man clattered up the front stairs in the morning, and kids got in trouble for chewing gum, not doing drugs.

Check it out. It’s like time travel. FFG