I shouldn’t be happy when my 15 year old daughter is home sick, but I am. I delight in getting to take care of her because there are so few of these days left. I got the call today, so I rushed to pick her up. The high school nurse was holding her there. Parallel parking out front, I wave at the sidewalk salter. Do I look too excited, I wonder?
We get in the car, and I give her boss-pants instructions of how it’s going to go. She looks too tired to fight her fate, she smirks a little too.
“We are going to eat Greek lemon orzo soup, we are going to drink pomegranate blueberry juice, we are going to take vitamin C every four hours and we are watching a Mom’s Hot Pick wrapped in blankets.”
She looks over at me and nods, “Which movie?”
“A Siorse Ronan movie,” I say. “You can choose if you want either a romcom or a quirky and artful coming of age.” I don’t tell her I also have other reasons too for choosing these; the Ireland connection, the age she’s at, the stage I’m at, a neighborhood I knew well in Brooklyn…
I just want to share a story with her. She needs one to drink in today. I do too.
holding
free
What are they? She needs to know.
Lady Bird and Brooklyn, I say.
Lady Bird please.
Nod
She rushes into the living room to see if it’s streaming, she’s got the white fuzzy blanket with illegible script and postal designs wrapped around her already. I put a few last things away and join her.
Ready?
Yes mama. Yes honey. We’re ready.
FOOTNOTES | FOOTLIGHTS: MORE ON THE MOVIES
Movie Mode is an experience I’ve loved my whole life. From getting my little kid mind blown with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to setting up wing-back chairs as a teen, shutting down lights and nursing a bowl of popcorn in front of Sci Fi on a tiny TV. Art house runs with my mom, and my step mom, and now my husband – always means so much to me.
I can heal myself by watching movies. Good movies. Soulful movies. I treat them like some folks treat psychedelic medicine experiences: with a set intention, with trust, and with reverence through to the end. And for me, movies work just as well.
I watch the credits: Gratitude.
To movies, I can bring my most complicated dilemma, my most bitter pains, and my swarmiest balls of mental confusion; and by the time it’s over, the problem is solved. More than once, a solution call or email came in at the same time I was watching. Other times, I’m just spared angst for a while, filling up with someone else’s story, feeling not thinking.
It’s Knowing Resolution in a 2-hour form.
Movie Mode is true magic for me. I hope it is for my girl too.
