Oh the sounds of the earth are like music
The breeze is so busy, it don't miss a tree
An' a ol' weepin' willer is laughin' at me -
Richard Rodgers
I’m not a movie person, but the quote above is from Oklahoma. I used it because I love what he was able to do with a few words that give voice to how I feel. But, about movies--I have trouble sitting in one place for two hours
and the truth is, I don't like very many new movies--although there are some exceptions
to that. I don't like violence, I don't think sex is a spectator sport, and I
still flinch at four-letter words, especially when there are a dozen of them in
a sentence. I’m not crazy about animation and I hate stupid, so it really cuts
down on things to watch.
I am a theatre person. If it’s
on stage, I’m probably going to like it. Worse than that for anyone around me,
if it’s a musical, I’m going to sing with it.
I can't quote many things from movies and plays I have seen, beyond
the obvious. "My dear, I don't give a damn" and "I see dead
people" come to mind. But I can remember scenes and how they made me feel.
Especially that—how they made me feel.
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Sally Field in Norma Rae |
In 1994, I made my daughter’s wedding dress. Also the matron of honor’s, three
bridesmaids’, and two flower girls’ dresses. (I bought the Mother of the Bride one--I was tired.) From March until August, I didn’t
venture too far from the sewing machine. Over and over, while I sewed, I
watched Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea,
the ones with Megan Follows and the late Jonathan Crombie playing Anne and
Gilbert.
I loved how they made me feel while I sewed. They got me over the
crying-over-beading and the many times I said, “I can’t do this,” and all the
days I was much too tired to thread the needle one more time.
Duane and I went to see The Dixie
Swim Club at the Ole Olsen Memorial Theater. While I admit to some
bias, I think Peru, Indiana’s local theater group is full of outstanding
talent, and it’s never been showcased any better than it is in this play. I
laughed so hard I nearly cried, and then there was a brilliant, aching point
where I was crying. Several years later I talked to Laura Stroud, one of the stars of the play, and when I tried to talk to her about that one line she had delivered with so much perfection it sliced my heart right in two, I got sniffly again and, oh, it felt so good.
It’s always nice when readers say something
that makes you goofy-smile and happy-dance all day. Or when they let you know
you got them through something that would have been harder otherwise. It means that
even though they may forget your name, the title of the book, or even its
protagonists, they’ll still remember how you made them feel. It doesn’t get any
better than that.
It’s been a rough week for virtually
everyone. Finding this column and changing it made me think of lines from Alan
Jackson’s “Where Were You”:
“Did
you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on I Love Lucy reruns?”
And turn on I Love Lucy reruns?”
I remember doing that during that awful September, when the news became
unbearable. Not I Love Lucy per se,
but other reruns. Shows that didn’t hurt. Shows made us feel better, as if we
could get through the day.
My niece, Sara Nider Biggs, is a teacher with two children. This week,
she said on Facebook, “Every day, be sure to tell somebody Thank You.” Sara was
starting with her children’s teachers, who keep them safe every day.
I join her in that, thanking everyone who does all they can to keep
children safe. I also thank all those people who did and do write, direct, and act in
movies and plays, and who sing songs and write books that I can’t quote lines
from. Because no matter how hard or sad or impossible times are, you make us
feel. You make us feel wonderful.