By Teresa K. Flatley

As Mad Men winds to a close on US television, I remember that in one episode we couldn't help but notice that the calendar hanging in the bedroom of a young cast member -- the very odd Sally Draper -- was the same one that I had hanging in my college dorm room back in 1969.

Although the show's episode was set in February 1968, and my calendar was the 1969-70 version, it struck a nerve. I had to run up and find mine and send photos out to the family.

Being compulsive, this particular calendar is the first of the 46 years worth of engagement calendars I have filled out and saved. I'm not sure why I started making sure I recorded day-to-day activities in a calendar each year, but they have come in useful. Like the time a friend thought (no, knew) for sure that I had gone to a particular concert in Pittsburgh when I was in Philadelphia. Or when we celebrated a birthday or anniversary and how we did it. 

If you watch Mad Men, I think that you will agree with me that it is interesting, but that there are a whole host of other adjectives that could be used to describe it. Even though I am not quite sure how I feel about the show, I know that pretty much there are no likeable characters in the cast, which is usually the downfall of a show. Who can you connect with? Difficult to do sometimes, but for some reason that doesn't detract from its popularity.

One thing for sure though. I don't think Sally Draper and I had a lot in common, even back in the day.