DAYS OF OUR LIVES - I've also been watching from the beginning. The first year was my last year of high school, so I could only watch on snow days and vacation days. Throughout the years there have been long stretches when I could not watch regularly - and getting back into the show was always so much fun.
Rosie said DOOL was only a half hour long when it started. Another soap was shown on the 'other half' of the hour. That was ANOTHER WORLD which was my all-time favorite ever soap. It has been off the air for close to 20 years now but there are days when I still go through withdrawals.