Big Screen Worthy!!

I have been remiss to mention a great movie that was deemed - "big screen worthy".

"Unstoppable" with "Denzel Washington" who I think is just a great actor. This movie it was like time stood still, it seemed longer than it was and it had you on the edge of your seat.

We went to see this in "The Villages", a retirement community south of where we live. It is one of my favorite places to go see movies, the theaters remind me of what they were like when I was a kid!

So, if you get the chance...check it out. It was big screen worthy, but don't miss out on it because it isn't in the theaters anymore....it is just plane screen worthy!

hair…hair…hair…where are the scissors?

Okay, I confess, as I age I kind of look at guys with long hair differently. Boy, am I getting old. Often when we are watching sports my husband hears me pipe up and say ---

“he needs a haircut!”

My husband’s theory on hair is – “grow it while you can”. Me – “he needs a haircut”. Which having lived through the 80’s and big hair it is not like long hair is something new to me. I am not old enough though that I don’t remember the hippie era.

I don’t know why it is that I now think they should avoid lengthening their locks and just get it cut!

For some reason I feel the need to mention that my husband does his fair share of yelling out during a game though his is usually something like “WILSON”! When Wilson Valdez is up, or makes a good play. (which scares me almost every time!)

What do you think?

”Grow it while you can”? Or....run and find some scissors!

The paths you travel...

I have come to think of life as being a series of paths.

I have many regrets in my life, have made poor choices in how to face something or what action to take. I’m quite sure that everyone has regrets they face.

I have not been known to choose what seemed at the time to be the best path to take, if I had done this I could be this by now. If I had gone there, instead of here it might have turned out better. It is one of the great mysteries in life….”woulda, coulda, shoulda”…if you do a Google search putting that in there is quite a bit that comes up.

How are we to know if our lives truly would have turned out better? How do we know we weren’t meant to be right where we are at each given moment?

Yeah, if only I had not taken a buy out from GM I could be close to retirement. Yeah, if only I had gone to college right after high school I would not have had to take as much math, and likely would be in a better paying job. Yeah, if only I had not trusted someone I would not have gotten burned. How many people really can’t say – “yeah, if only” about a few things.

Maybe there is some sort of cosmic fate that is in store for us each which guides us along the way. Maybe we really aren’t the ones making the choices…

“Robert Frost” makes one think about life with his poem:

“The Road Not Taken”.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I do think that life happens the way it does for a reason. I was fortunate to have had loving and supporting parents or my paths would have been bumpier.

I am thankful for the paths that led me to my husband. I did not marry until I was 42, which meant I missed out on being a mother, but, maybe I wasn’t meant to be one. I do have a beautiful niece that I love as a daughter. I have two beautiful step-daughters that I love very much. Maybe that is as much of a parent as I was meant to be.

This song by “Rascal Flatts” always makes me think of my life and my husband:

"Bless The Broken Road"

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

[Chorus]
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

[Chorus]
Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you.

Life is a mystery, at times it can be a maze. We all find our way out of the maze at some point in our lives, and sometimes we just go back into it at another entrance. I have been mulling this over, and over in my head and I’m not sure if all this will make sense to anyone but me. If not than it is just a little exercise for my brain. I hope though that you are reading this and maybe, just maybe seeing some new appreciation for the paths you travelled.

more about movies....

Aside from the movies mentioned in my last post we have also seen two others that were "big screen worthy" and we left the theater almost in awe. "The King's Speech", with one of my favorite actors, Colin Firth. His performance in this was wonderful. Writing this makes me want to go in and watch it - of course we bought it when it came out!

Another that was "big screen worthy" especially 3d worthy was, "Avatar" it really drew you in, the characters were great, and again we left thinking "wow, what a great movie". It too was worth of buying!


Last Christmas on our trek to Michigan for the holidays we saw a couple of great movies, "Red" - which left me wanting to be a CIA agent! "Due Date" - which left me a fan of "Zack (insert funny last name here)" who is was also in "Hangover" which my step-daughter's ordered for us. The previews for "Hangover 2" where showing while they were both here and they thought we had to see it before the second one.

"Hangover" was hilarious, I had sat down on a Sunday afternoon and watched it, opting not to wait for my husband to be ready to watch it and then later in the week he decided to watch it and I watched and laughed even more. Possibly because it was fun to see his reactions. No we didn't catch this one on the big screen, but, yeah it would have been "big screen worthy" - at least to me it would have been.

So....there you have it....more about movies!

Okay, I confess....it was better than I expected.

When my husband said - "Emlyn would like to go see Cowboys & Aliens" I had a flashback to going to see "Piranha 3d".

We don't go to the movies often, in this household a movie must be considered "big screen worthy" to fork out the fortune it now cost to go see a movie in the theater.

My niece, Julie and I used to go to movies fairly often. Little harder now that we are separated by 1200 miles. So, these days I am glad when they find one they consider "big screen worthy" and go along for the ride. Sometimes I leave thinking - "oh god", sometimes, "hey, that was actually good", or "wow, what an awesome movie". Take a guess which thought was in my head after leaving "Piranha 3d" ;)

We had seen the previews for "Cowboys & Aliens" when we went to see - "Super 8" and I thought - "OMG - does that look awful". Well, I was wrong it was actually pretty good and it was indeed "big screen worthy".

Also big screen worth was "Super 8". This was one that my husband had wanted to see, this time I really didn't know much about the movie, I hadn't really remembered seeing any previews until we were having lunch before the movie...and...I wondered what I was getting myself into. That one was fun for me because it was kids growing up during the time I was growing up - minus the aliens.

As I go through life more and more I learn to open my mind. Of course I may be skeptical about things from time to time, but, I am more willing to say, okay, I was wrong...it was "better than I thought it would be".