Some Kind of Wonderful

is a movie I saw quite some time ago - its the first movie in which I saw Mary Stuart Masterson perform, a truly delightful experience. The movie is a little high school romance and I thought in and of itself some kind of wonderful. She truly proves how sensitively engaging her work is in Fried Green Tomatoes which is an overall Towanda! of an excellent movie with a cast (including always rare Kathy Bates, a precious Mary-Louise Parker, the lady Jessica Tandy, and the lady Cicely Tyson, and memorable Stan Shaw) equally par excellence. She also shines in Benny & Joon on par with one of her co-stars, Johnny Depp - who is off the charts as an actor himself. Like Depp, she's really adept at playing the unique, perhaps quirky, personality and helping you be comfortably right there in her shoes with her. If you have the opportunity, enjoy her work - she's a pearl of an actress. Put this treasure on the list too - Immediate Family!

Another year for the husband

Wednesday was the husband's birthday. In celebration both of us had taken the day off (I like these kinds of celebrations) and both of us were taken out to Denny's for eats by a ministry mentor/friend (I really like these kinds of celebrations) who wanted to celebrate the ocassion and get to know us better.

This person is so genuinely genial and wise, it is always a pleasure to be in his presence. As he talked with us, inquiring as to how we met, how we are doing with each other, and who we are, it was so 'safe' (a word he liked) talking with him. Within the conversation, he suggested the husband be 'my pastor' and all that entails which he left undefined - isn't that an interesting concept. Too, he suggested we focus on what things we could do to make things better for the other (not what we think we would like to do, but what we are capable within ourselves that would be effective). He also helped us with a difficult conversation we needed to have with one of the kids. As a result that later conversation went far better than originally expected; I was really dreading having it. The husband and I both enjoyed sharing the meal with him - we talked for several hours. I walked away feeling peaceful, hopeful, and more ably armed.

Several of the kids, friends, and family remembered the husband's birthday - he had a lot of phone calls from in state and out of state in which he was sung to among other things. Overall we had a relaxing day together and were the better for it.


Because he is always so hard to surprise, I planned Monday to kickoff birthday celebrations; he thought I was scheming for Wednesday. Our the Ace family friends and we went to lunch at Red Robins. We extracted him from maintenance he was doing at the church with another elder and pre-empted his Costco run. Boy, did we get stuffed - had the tower of onion rings and the chicken crisper appetizer followed by me having fish and chips and he having one of their delicious burgers. (No, I didn't eat it all - we left with 3 doggy boxes!)

Then at their house (which is like being at home) we watched the movie Idlewild with André Benjamin and Paula Patton amongst the stars and the likes of favorites Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Patti LaBelle, Ving Rhames, and Bill Nunn too. It's a very good speakeasy period piece and it wonderfully speaks to a little bit about how God operates. I enjoyed it. We had such a good time we nearly forgot to pick up the youngest on time!

lost diaries

In this movie of touching romance with the african-american and christian circumstance, Diary of a Mad Black woman (Kimberly Elise, the Practice's Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, Tyler Perry) speaks deeply to restoration from brokenness for anyone - one of those things our God is about - this state of being lost manifests in many forms - hurt, our fault, God's rebuilding, fear, pride. The lost sometimes don't even know they are lost! I prefer the movie over the play - the story is more fully encompassing. It's a remarkable and wise glimpse into the process of recovery .

A conversation between the Kimberly's character and her mama (Cicely):

"You know I know this man put a hurtin' on you baby, but you've got to forgive him. No matter what he done, you've got to forgive him - not for him, but for you."
"Forgive him for me?"
"When some body hurts you they take power over you, if you don't forgive them then they keeps the power. Forgive him baby and after you forgive him, forgive youreself. "

Now ain't that the truth!

My hats off to Tyler Perry and his work. they can be a little earthy, but while keeping it funny (most often hilarious), he keeps it deeply and spiritually real with characters we all know in our own lives - c'mon, you know you know someone! And Cicely Tyson is always a joy to see perform. Adding to Reunion - don't get me started on that one - I cant wait to complete the Madea collection; I've got some work to do!