When I was in middle school, I was a latchkey kid.
I was a latchkey kid before middle school, but my story takes place in middle school.
When I was in middle school, I was a latchkey kid.
When I was in middle school, we got HBO.
It was awesome.
Anyone remember HBO in the early days?
The camera going down the streets in the fake city while the HBO theme music played?
“Da da daaa, da daaa, da da da da…da da daa, (dadadumdadadum) da da daa (dadadumdadadum)…”
Anyway…
I watched a lot of movies on HBO after school while “doing my homework.”
One of them has always stuck with me.
Maybe because for a two month period, it was on at 3:00 every single day so I watched it a gajillion times.
Maybe it was because, even as a seventh grader, the movie moved me to big, enormous sobbing tears.
The movie was “Six Weeks” with Mary Tyler Moore and Dudley Moore.
MTM had a daughter who was a ballet dancer, and is diagnosed with leukemia.
Somewhere along the way, they meet Dudley and the adults fall in love.
The night before the daughter gets her dream of performing in the Nutcracker she performs a pretend wedding for her mother and Mr. Moore.
The vows always make me cry.
“…for now…for there isn’t any always…”
Ugh. Because she knows she’s dying and for now is all there is.
Get it?
Awful.
Then, she dances in the show and dies in her mothers arms on the subway.
Oh, sorry…spoiler alert.
I’m tearing up just thinking about it.
I may need to see if Netflix has it.
If I watched it now, I might find it horrifyingly cheesy, but I doubt it.
It was my first real tearjerker.
Not my last.
Kim can tell you.
We saw Steel Magnolias together.
“I could jog all the way to Texas and back…but my daughter can’t!”
We also saw My Girl together.
“Where are his glasses? He can’t see! Where are his glasses?”
Surprised we didn’t flood the town with our tears.
I saw Marley and Me a few years ago.
I had specifically not watched that film because I knew it would make me cry.
Then, one day while on maternity leave, it was on.
Why not? I figured.
Why not, indeed.
Poor Real Man got a call that went something like this:
“What’s the matter with you? Why would you leave me home alone to watch a movie like Marley and Me? Do you know about this movie? Do you know what happens? The dog…that sweet, sweet dog! It’s awful! Awful! Why would you let me watch this? You have to monitor what I watch…you know I can’t watch sad movies like this! This is all your fault!”
All of the above said through heaving sobs and sniffles full of snot that could not be contained as the tears ran down my cheeks.
Poor guy.
Anyway, I’ve been feeling kinda sappy lately, and I keep thinking about Six Weeks.
Do you have a go-to sad movie?
One that you watch when you just want to wallow for awhile?
I’d be interested to hear.
Because I’m always up for a good cry.
Ok I truly lol’d at this post cuz I SO feel ya on this. First, I READ Marley & Me at WORK and almost died and then my HUBBY BOUGHT IT FOR ME! Omg is he insane!? Thank goodness it had Owen Wilson in it who I can’t stand so I had a good excuse to sell it in a yard sale.
Secondly, the baby Jack crying while Julia Roberts lays on the floor truly sends me over the edge. thank the maker for Sally Field bitch-slapping Weezer or I’d still be sobbing.
Third, omg the glasses in “My Girl.” god help me if anyone is near me to witness the sobbing.
Others on my list, the moment in “Beaches” when I realized that sappy song “Wind Beneath My Wings” was NOT about a man, but her best friend! (and of course the little girl crying asking if she can bring her cat). Oy.
“The Notebook,” which has to be on ABC Family like twice a week. Sigh.
And, finally, the moment the music swells in the auditorium during the final reveal of his symphony in “Mr. Hollands Opus.” {the band geek in me still wells up}.
Some definite go-to’s for a good sobbing, heaving, cry.
Comment by Heather — September 20, 2012 @ 7:35 am |
“Terms of Endearment” for me. When she is saying good bye to her kids I honestly can’t breathe. “My Life” with Michael Keaton is another bad one. Same reason- the tape he left for his son kills me.
Comment by Laurie — September 20, 2012 @ 7:57 am |
Ricky Schroder in “the Champ”… The final scene requires 2 boxes of Kleenex for me!
Comment by Mary Anne — September 20, 2012 @ 8:49 am |
My husband laughs at me because I always bawl at tear jerkers. He is a cruel man. (BTW, I do remember “Six Weeks”. Yes, you would probably cry if you saw it again.)
Comment by Michelle Cook King — September 20, 2012 @ 9:27 am |
Have you seen “Stepmom” that movie from the 90s with Julia Roberts? It kills me every single time!
Comment by Susan Van Heuvelen — September 20, 2012 @ 2:45 pm |