A week ago, the landmark series "The Office" came to a close. And I am sitting here wondering why a seemingly silly show still mattered to me. Why was I still discussing the last hour with friends? And even now, I have been wondering why was I still refusing to delete it from my very overworked  DVR.I watched the show regularly, sometimes religiously, during its tenure. As a woman working in a bizarre work environment at the time, I laughed along as Jim provided his cynical view of life in cubicles. I thought it along the lines of a film favorite -- "Office Space" and once again enjoyed Thursday nights on NBC. While I enjoyed the unrequited romance of Pam and Jim, I never expected to invest in any of these wacky characters.And wacky they were! At first, I dismissed them as caricatures of all the dreaded nightmares we can find at the workplace. Steve Carell played Michael perfectly as the bad boss who thought he was great. Rainn Wilson's Dwight was the co-worker we all hated. The one who thought himself in our chain of command even though he was not. The co-worker that was sure that given the opportunity, he could right the sinking ship. These two actors performed their roles so beautifully to start. I never thought that I would grow to like them, much less love them.In fact, all of the crazy crew was played so well, I took the trip with them. Yes, at times the show got off track a little. And yes, some of the things they did defied reason even for those charcters, but the actors played everything with such truth and simplicity, I went there. I went for the ride. But why does it still matter? Why will this show stay with me the way that so many others do not?So much of media tells us we need and want more to be successful in our lives. Oprah is there to encourage Dream Boards and making millions selling stretchy underthings out of our homes. Reality shows reflect lives of opulence and Botox wherein keeping up with anyone is impossible yet completely necessary. Even other sitcoms all too often reflect lives where everyone is pretty and on some path to success or else delightfully resistant of it."The Office" took a look at the rest of us. Most of us go to jobs everyday that we don't love. We do work that doesn't break records or inspire visits from talk show hosts. We may aspire for more (as dear Andy Bernard did) but we keep coming to the job that keeps the lights on. I wanted Michael to get his beloved condo even as Dwight pointed out that with a 30 yr. mortgage, he would still be paying when he died. These people didn't wear the latest clothes or drive shiny cars. And it was refreshing to relate to them rather than having to envy them.A lot of life is spent in the workplace. We like some of our co-workers. We hate others. We may even find love at work. But we spend the bulk of our waking day with those people. And whether we like them or not, they are a part of our lives. "The Office" made the value of that come real. These wacky people are more real to me than any "Housewife" in any part of the country.These are the people that do the work that keeps our lives going. It's not exciting. It won't make any of them rich or famous. So they come to work each day and try in their own way to make it live-able. And that's why I care. That's why it matters. That's why I cried when Pam finally hugged Jim back and Angela took Dwight's ring.It matters because the millions of us who live this kind of life matter! All of us deserve happiness and the ability to feel good as we walk through those doors that dominate 40+ hours of our week. We don't have to wear four inch heels to be sexy to the cute guy across the way. We don't have to dream beyond our Sunfire and beet farm to have a dream worthy of building a life around. And we don't have to win at everything to end up speaking at our Alma Mater. Our lives are the real lives. The ones that truly matter... because they're ours and we matter.And "The Office" got that -- like a great friend who gets you the minute you walk in the door. (Or like Jim got Dwight after all these years). And I will miss that old friend. As Andy said (oh too beautifully) in the last episode, "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them".Well here's to knowing that we're living the good old days and here's to "The Office". Thanks for making the last nine years, good old days.