Movie Mondays

Love Mondays. Like to affectionately call them Movie Mondays. I'm lucky enough to have a four day week job, which blissfully means I get to skip out on Monday-itis (never mind the fact that this often turns into Tuesday-itis...but that's beside the point.) If you've ever been to see a movie on the weekend, particularly a new release film, you'll know that the cinemas are an awful, noisy, pop-corn throwing affair, which quite frankly I cannot stand. Hence, Movie Monday. Shamefully, I still haven't written about last week's film, (coming soon, promise!), but the show must go on!

So there I was, sitting at Le Pain Quotidien' waiting for my frothy (i. love. froth.) soy cappuccino, trying to read Sunday Life magazine (no, haven't yet been able to get to the Sunday papers yet), and I can't. I can't read the jolly article. I'm full. No, I'm not referring to my belly, (I'm actually quite peckish), I mean, my head literally felt like it was going to explode. In answer to the question pressing on everybody's (nobody's?), lips, I had just seen 'The Blind Side.' As the advert to this film had me choking back tears every single time I saw it, I was aware that I might have a thing to two whooshing around in my head by the end of it. But wow. But...amazing. Inspiring. Heart wrenching. This film is the epitome of why I want to be an actor. What a privilege to be able to convey a story like that.

To give you an idea of the stakes I'm talking, the story surrounds the life of a large, orphaned, African American boy who's known around Hurt Village as 'Big Mike.' The Tuohy's are a Southern American Family with more money (I would have said sense, but they probably have the same amount)...anyway with a hell of a lot of money - to put it simply, they own a couple hundred Taco Bell restaurant chains. A local car mechanic has allowed Big Mike to live on his couch for a while, and was able to convince a Christian School to admit him as a student. However, when the couch offer expires, Big Mike, whose mother is a drug addict and is literally an 'orphan of the state', has nowhere but a laundromat to rest his head. After a Thanksgiving concert one evening, the Tuohy's find Big Mike walking out in the cold. Leigh Ann, the mom and wife with a will stronger than a steel ship asks him (more accurately decides for him), to come and stay at their place for the night. And so the story unfolds into that of a testimony to potential of each and every human being. Why some are born into more fortunate and comfortable lives is one of the many questions I will ask God when I get to Heaven. I think it's so we step out of comfort zones and develop the compassion God has placed in our hearts. As Leigh Ann memorably replied to her friend's comment of "Honey, you're changing that boy's life" at an 'overpriced salad lunch,' "No, he's changing mine." And I would totally agree.

Off I went to the supermarket, head held high, determined to be more like this Leigh Ann Tuohy. To not be intimidated by a group of guys who look my way and smirk or stare at someplace other than my face. I want to be a strong, confident woman, just like she is (she's a real person!), just like my mother is, and my Nonna was (also coming soon).

I will prevail!

xoxo