From the time that fellow baby boomer Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with Pacreatic Cancer to the time of his death, I found myself searching the internet to find the latest info on his health. I watched the Barbara Walters interview some months ago, and got a few tears in my eyes watching him, and his devoted wife, share. I think the thing that impresses me more than the dancing, which was spectacular, or the movies, most of which I’ve seen, or the attractive physique, is the commitment he had to his wife. What an enduring love that started when both of them were young, she only 15, and he 19. In a sense they grew up together, my heart goes out so to his wife.
Many tributes have been offered, a recent Entertainment magazine that arrived in our mailbox has him on the cover, and article that may be worth reading for a change. ”Dancing with the Stars” did a tribute that I wasn’t aware of that was posted here for a while until it was taken down from youtube for some reason. I liked the video posted below better anyway.
But as I’ve already shared, to me there’s nothing more attractive than a man that is devoted to his wife…and I don’t mean attractive in the sense of being attracted to the man, but being attracted to the way he has lived a very important part of his life.
My hope is that Patrick made peace with God before passing, and my prayers are with his dear wife, and those who love him that have been left behind.
Star Trek (2009), the new movie is coming out this week, and if you grew up watching the show, it’s going to be a double-treat….you’ll have the old shows to compare with the new movie…and with the advancement in movie-making technology, I am sure the difference will be quite extreme!
As a baby boomer I wonder whether I’m going to be captivated by the movie enough to be able to get past Captain James T. Kirk being anyone other than William Shatner, or Spock being any other actor than Leonard Nemoy. I have great memories of watching the show while growing up, my Dad even enjoyed it and he was pretty picky about television programs, especially if they were shows that his kids liked.
I can admit to you that hubby and I probably won’t go to the first showing at the movies, I’m going to wait for the reviews to come in, and then decide. If they are fantastic, and seeing Star Trek on the big screen is essential to enjoy the movie, then we’ll go, if not, as we do with most movies, hubby and I will wait for the movie to come out on DVD and rent it somewhere like BLOCKBUSTER .
In fact, if you are young enough to have missed the older Star Trek movies, or the series, I’m sure BLOCKBUSTER will have them available for rental.
If you’ve been to the movie, please let me know what you thought! Should I run out and watch it on the big screen, or wait to rent the movie on DVD?
Today as I hear the news about deploying missile destroyers to N. Korea, for some reason memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis came to mind…maybe it’s the news report today plus the fact that we watched a movie we love, “White Squall” this weekend, and in it there is mention of the Bay of Pigs and a confrontation with a Cuban ship. I guess that’s all coming together to remind me of those tense days in the early 1960’s.
Starting my life in the 1950’s meant that we were steeped in “cold war” thinking, and at least for me, I found myself wondering when the button would be pushed that would annihilate us all, yes, I know, sounds extreme, but being one who thinks a lot, the mind can go in so many places it probably would be best to avoid….especially for an impressionable child. I remember “air raid drills” when we were in school, interesting, because I attended a private school that used old, abandoned army barracks for classrooms…going out into the hallway and sitting along the cold, cinder block walls with our hands over our heads. That can strike fear in any child!
Of course we had television, but the radio was on all the time, and during the hourly news updates, I found myself sitting very close to it to hear what the latest report would be. I remember praying a lot, and keeping my Bible close, even at at school, after all, God is not something you can touch and hold, but His Word was something I could hold in my hands, the closest tangible connection, and brought great comfort. I also remember Mom reminding her sometimes-fearful child that God would take care of us, there was nothing to fear.
At times I think that the world is more dangerous than it was back then, but the truths that Mom shared are the same, and my source of comfort hasn’t changed.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to someone who has made MANY a movie, but for most, the greatest accomplishment is, at least should be, the making of a family. I can’t even imagine how painful it must be to lose a child, one who you have had to take care of in special ways because of his special needs, and then have to do so in the spotlight of the press, the media. I will leave the death of John Travolta’s son to the media, and just share a fond memory.
We all know that John Travolta made tons of movies, but the one that hits home personally is one of his early movies, “Saturday Night Fever”, oh, and wasn’t he in “Welcome Back, Kotter”? The TV Show? Yes indeed, sorry for the senior moment, I just googled it, and he was.
Anyway, back to Saturday Night Fever…that was back in the “disco” days….are you “old” enough to remember “discotechs”? When I started dating my Colorado Mountain husband, who had only been in NJ for about a year at the time I met him, he had only been on a couple dates after his move here before I met him, and the movie he took his date to (she was someone I went to HS with) was “Saturday Night Fever”. Now I confess, I have never seen the movie in the theaters, it was later movies by Travolta, at least a few, that I liked…but knowing he had seen it, I had to watch it on TV at least once. You know how it is when you’re first dating someone, and you just HAVE to know all the details of whoever they dated before…it was during those times. Gosh that seems so long ago, and it is! 30+ years!
Here’s the classic clip from the movie for you, enjoy if you like this sort of thing, and even if you don’t, continue to pray for the Travolta family.
A couple of nights ago they were playing “The Sound of Music” on television, so I started rummaging through some old VHS tapes looking for our old copy of the movie so we could watch it commercial free…haven’t purchased a DVD of it yet.
While looking through the pile, I came across our copy of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which, of course, brought back a flood of memories for both my husband and myself. For me, it was simply the fact that I enjoyed watching it when I was young, and we enjoyed watching it together with our children when they were young. For my husband, it is the stories his mother would tell about knowing the family of the person on which the character, Lucy, was based.
We talked about the movie when we were gathered with family for dinner this Christmas, and my brother-in-law asked “Did you ever notice that Linus puts down his security blanket when he says ‘fear not’ when he explains to Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas?” He’s right!
I am late posting Christmas wishes this year, but take a look at this little clip I found on YouTube of Linus sharing what Christmas is all about with Charlie Brown, and may I wish you the joy of the real meaning of Christmas not just one day of the year, but every day of the year!
This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, a fairly quiet 4 day weekend, we don’t shop on “Black Friday”, I handle most of that online. We had a break with tradition this year by having dinner at my brother’s home, 12 of us, each household bringing a dish or 2 to share.
But where does “Fiddler on the Roof” (click image for info on the collectors edition) come in? This weekend it was on television, so hubby and I watched it….again. We’ve seen it many times together in our 30 years of marriage, and I remember seeing it in the theaters when I was dating. Today I was reflecting on how my view of the movie has changed through the years. It goes something like this:
When I saw it 30 some years ago on a date, I related to the girls in the movie, with all the romantic notions of a girl or young woman who has not yet met “Mr. Right”, and the date I was with when I saw it wasn’t “Mr. Right” by the way :-).
When my husband and I watched it together as a newly married couple with no children, we had many hopes and dreams. No children, what would it be like to raise children? Would we have daughters or sons? Would my husband be a “rich man” or sing “if I were a rich man”? I’d say right about now he’s singing the latter…but we didn’t have any idea back then, viewed it through eyes of hopes, dreams, expectations.
Watching it with children, hubby and I would look at each other knowingly as we saw the daughters rebel to one degree or another in the movie.
When we watched it this year, with a married daughter, feeling like we still have hopes and dreams, but a lot more memories than we did when we first viewed the movie, we felt empathy with the change the parents were facing, and not always happy changes. We’ve walked through many challenges together as a married couple, and looked at one another and thought “Do I love him/her”, “does she/he love me?”and thankfully can say “Yes, I do”.
What is it that we love most about this movie? The constant dialogue the character Tevye, a role so perfectly suited to the actor, Topol, had with God. He talked to God about everything, from the silliest to the most serious things, no matter what condition he was in, he was not afraid to talk to his God. Oh that we all would feel so free to talk to God, our Father in Heaven. Thanks to what Jesus has done for us, we have that freedom available to us, the thing I’m most thankful for this year.
My friend, the amazingly talented “Pop Art Diva“, who happens to pop in here now and then to post a comment, sent the following link along in her last newsletter, it’s great!!
View it, and if you grew up in the 40’s, 50’s, or part of the 60’s, you’ll enjoy! Sign up for the newsletter at the end to catch up with what has happened to who and more from days gone by.
BLOCKBUSTER 
