How hard it is to sit and be quiet for even a moment. Evelyn doesn’t know where to put a toy, Dave’s asking what movie to watch, and I pause writing to browse Fandango Movies with the filter set to 1990s. There’s something about memorable films—the ones that stitched themselves into my heart. I love to return to them, to share them.
Dave showed me one of his favorites, A Life Less Ordinary, a couple of nights ago, with Holly Hunter, Cameron Diaz, and Ewan McGregor. So far, I’ve added Memphis Belle and Fried Green Tomatoes to the list, both of which remind me of time with my grandparents’—when my aunts and cousins would come. We’d all pile into a one-bedroom cabin with three pullout couches and a loft area with a mattress and single bunks built into the apex of the cabin’s roof. In those days, we’d fit fourteen of us into that 1,500-square-foot space.
Besides waking up to the smell of biscuits and gravy and spending all day three-wheeler riding in the hills, I loved sitting four or five to a couch, with pillow forts on the floor and popcorn in hand, all of us crowded around an 18-inch cube TV and a VCR. My grandfather was always in the king lion position on the leather brown reclining chair.
Speaking of VHS, I also remember the store-bought, four-box set of Lonesome Dove at that cabin, which lived beside the tapes we recorded ourselves—the ones with handwritten labels. I’m 70% through the 850-page book, and I plan to watch the show after. As I got older, watching those VHS tapes became exponentially more enjoyable, the dated commercials and jingles sending my nostalgia-o-meter off the charts. Wow. What great memories I have stored there.
Next up, sharing The Indian in the Cupboard with Evelyn. I much prefer the book to the movie, but it’ll bring the story’s magic alive enough for tonight. Dave has taken a seat on the couch, and Evelyn should be done cleaning her room any minute.
Better get popping that corn.
Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 