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Notes To My Kids: Littel Stories About Grown Up Kids
Most people have a favorite movie or TV show. I can remember my own favorites some of which I still love as an adult like Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey. My son Roger had, like most kids, his all time favorite movie as a little boy: Terms Of Endearment which stared Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow, and others.
I really do not remember how he got so interested in that flick, which I liked too, but he would watch it over and over and over, never seeming to tire of its story and plot. That movie was not the type of movie most children would enjoy. There was no sign of friendly animals, heroes, or kindly village elders visible at all. In some ways the characters were quite the opposite of what would be seen in a kid’s show. You had the main stars, Shirley and Jack, along with others, who were eccentric, somewhat lacking in morals, or simply colorful. All in all it was an interesting and entertaining movie, albeit one with a sad ending.
While the ending was sad it was still the story of a family. Perhaps the family element, even though not cast from the 1950s Leave It To Beaver mold, is what appealed to Roger. Or maybe it was the little kids of the character Emma who died who Roger identified with. One day I guess will need to ask my son why he liked it so much so I will know.
Regardless of why little Roger liked it I grew to like it as well. How could I not enjoy it after seeing it literally dozens of times with him? I even ordered the soundtrack to the flick and enjoyed listening to it in my car while driving to work. What the little son liked so did the dad.
And perhaps that is ultimately what I got out of watching that movie now decades old and in many cases forgotten. That is, your children can expose you to things you never thought you would like. As parents we will try to do this with our kids to broaden their horizons. But this was a case where the total opposite happened and I learned to like something new too.