This Sunday is my Super Bowl. From 4pm onwards you can find my butt parked in front of the TV. I’ll be dealing with Guiliana Rancic on the red carpet and counting the minutes until Chris Rock hands Hollywood their white butts on a silver skewer during the opening monologue of the Oscars.
I love everything about the movies. The previews. The popcorn (that I won’t share). The anticipation as the lights dim. Sitting through the credits until the lights come up. I love how it is basically the only time when I’m not asleep that I’m totally focussed on one thing. I get lost in the movies.
Today when I was thinking about it though, I realized that my love for the movies is also wrapped up in memories of people and experiences shared at them.
My sister Sherrill took me to see Grease at the Odeon in London, Ontario. I felt so cool.
My sister Suzanne took me to see ET at a drive-in. It was right before I was going away to camp and I remember sobbing when ET was in the freezer thing. I think I said I was crying about the movie but more than likely I was crying at the thought of leaving her.
I remember my brother and me watching Black Christmas. I’m fairly sure that I slept on the floor of his room for two months after that one.
I remember taking my grandmother to see Runaway Bride on her 95th birthday. She was deaf as a doornail but happy to just sit there and watch Richard Gere.
I remember seeing Message In A Bottle with my mom in Florida. We cried so hard that we couldn’t leave the theatre because neither of us could see out of our swollen eyes. We looked at each other as the lights came up and burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the pair of us. There was also that thing with her at the end of Carrie with the hand popping out of the grave….
I remember seeing Baby Mama with my best movie buddy Mo. We went the day that I had been inseminated and we were likely the only two chicks who ever cried seeing Baby Mama.
I remember seeing AI with my now step-mother a few weeks into her relationship with my dad. At the end, the robot kid is offered the chance to be human or to spend one more day with his ‘mother’. It destroyed me. As Diana held me and cried as I cried for my mom, I remember thinking, “Okay she’s a keeper”. And I was right.
My dad and I have many conversations around movies. It’s sort of ‘our thing’. I love the random texts he sends me on Oscar night about the fashion. At first, I’m fairly sure he was covering for my mom in her absence, the same way he took over her job of sending everyone birthday cards. But now, he’s totally into it. Maybe I’ll give you his best dressed list on Monday.
I love that Will has inherited my obsession for the movies. And that I’m discovering movies from the past that I never saw before with him. The Goonies! The Parent Trap! The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! (How the HELL had I never seen The Goonies??)
Counting down to Zootopia
He’s also reminded me that a stupid comedy can be amazing. Our personal faves? Furry Vengeance and Are We There Yet? Let me tell you, if you have never seen Ice Cube boxing a deer with a 7-year-old in hysterics next to you… well trust me you should.
I have adored introducing him to movies from my past as well. I will never forget the first time he saw The Wizard of Oz.When Dorothy was clicking her heels saying, “There’s no place like home,” and I looked over to see tears pouring down his face, I knew the kid was hooked. A movie fan for life.
I hope someday, he’ll write a blog about that time his mom came to pick him up at school dressed as Princess Leia to see The Force Awakens. Or all the Christmas Day movies his auntie takes him to so his mom could chill out.
I may not be able to teach the kid how to play the piano and I may not be able to afford to take him on that trip to Scotland that he keeps asking for…but I can keep making memories with him through our shared love of the big screen.
Sidenote: If you and your kids love the movies, Will and I highly recommend the book, 100 Movies To See Before You Grow Up. We are loving rating the movies and writing down when we saw them etc. It’s an awesome resource.
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