Driven to tears
It's Monday, unfortunately. Hope you enjoyed a great weekend. It was my wife's birthday on Saturday so we had a nice weekend here.
Today's thoughts concern things that have made me cry, even at my advanced age! I've always been an emotional guy, perhaps even moreso now that I'm at my current station in life. And, no, it's not always just movies that break me up, but they're a big part of it.
And since I brought it up, I'll mention a few films that always affect me. The all-time tearjerker for me has to be "Field of Dreams." My wife and I saw it when it came out thirty years ago, and I believe that I cried for the last ten or so minutes of the movie. To this day I have difficulty watching it without beginning to cloud up a bit, because I know what's coming. Even as I write this, thinking of James Earl Jones' character's soliloquy about how "people will come" and "the one constant in all the years has been baseball" chokes up right up.
Then there's "The Lord of the Rings," particularly the final installment, "The Return of the King." I won't spoil the ending for those who have not seen it, but there's a big ceremony near the end and then another at the end. Both sequences always send me into a hightened state of emotion.
Believe it or not, I got choked up at the end of all three of Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" films, most notably at the end of the third, "The Dark Knight Rises." Again, I watch this movie occasionally, know what's about to happen, and it still creates vivid emotions.
I have found some television shows equally moving as well, most notably "The West Wing," the Aaron Sorkin vehicle about those working in the White House, including the President. I honestly cannot count the number of times that show made me laugh, but also the greater number of times that it created the opposite reaction. The most emotional moments for me always center around the love and loyalty the primary characters exhibit for each other, for the work they're doing and for the country. It's really something. Again, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's never watched, but the moments of which I write are often unexpected but no less powerful.
Here's another one from an unexpected source--Bruce Springsteen. Anyone who's aware of The Boss knows that for most of his career he was flanked onstage by an enormous man playing a saxophone, one Clarence "Big Man" Clemons. Clarence died a few years ago from a stroke, I believe, and the first time that I watched a Springsteen concert video after that was a little surreal, but most of all it was that way when the band began to play "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," which is about how "Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half," with Springsteen as Scooter, and I just lost it, thinking of how Bruce had lost possibly the best and most loyal friend anyone could ever have. I saw Bruce and the E Street Band multiple times in their greatest period of popularity and he and Clarence never failed to play off of each other in amazing and often comical ways, even staging broad stage kisses. Those of us who enjoy Bruce's music know that it's just not the same without the Big Man.
Most of all, though, family situations bring me to tears, but almost always in a good way. Here's the best one: our son convinced the rest of us (my wife, our daughter and her hubby) that we should all take a family vacation to Walt Disney World. We worked out dates when everyone was out of school and met in central Florida (our son and his gang drove, everyone else flew). Around 10:00 PM on our first full day on the grounds we were all on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom awaiting the spectacular fireworks. Then I hear the classic "When You Wish Upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" and when Cliff Edwards (voice of Jiminy Cricket) sings "...your dreams come true," I simply broke down. Because it was perfect. I never dreamed of having such a wonderful family, and the moment just overwhelmed me. Luckily the people who cared the most about me were there with me.
I could go on, but I'm actually getting misty-eyed writing this. Hope you have a good week!
Today's thoughts concern things that have made me cry, even at my advanced age! I've always been an emotional guy, perhaps even moreso now that I'm at my current station in life. And, no, it's not always just movies that break me up, but they're a big part of it.
And since I brought it up, I'll mention a few films that always affect me. The all-time tearjerker for me has to be "Field of Dreams." My wife and I saw it when it came out thirty years ago, and I believe that I cried for the last ten or so minutes of the movie. To this day I have difficulty watching it without beginning to cloud up a bit, because I know what's coming. Even as I write this, thinking of James Earl Jones' character's soliloquy about how "people will come" and "the one constant in all the years has been baseball" chokes up right up.
Then there's "The Lord of the Rings," particularly the final installment, "The Return of the King." I won't spoil the ending for those who have not seen it, but there's a big ceremony near the end and then another at the end. Both sequences always send me into a hightened state of emotion.
Believe it or not, I got choked up at the end of all three of Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" films, most notably at the end of the third, "The Dark Knight Rises." Again, I watch this movie occasionally, know what's about to happen, and it still creates vivid emotions.
I have found some television shows equally moving as well, most notably "The West Wing," the Aaron Sorkin vehicle about those working in the White House, including the President. I honestly cannot count the number of times that show made me laugh, but also the greater number of times that it created the opposite reaction. The most emotional moments for me always center around the love and loyalty the primary characters exhibit for each other, for the work they're doing and for the country. It's really something. Again, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's never watched, but the moments of which I write are often unexpected but no less powerful.
Here's another one from an unexpected source--Bruce Springsteen. Anyone who's aware of The Boss knows that for most of his career he was flanked onstage by an enormous man playing a saxophone, one Clarence "Big Man" Clemons. Clarence died a few years ago from a stroke, I believe, and the first time that I watched a Springsteen concert video after that was a little surreal, but most of all it was that way when the band began to play "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," which is about how "Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half," with Springsteen as Scooter, and I just lost it, thinking of how Bruce had lost possibly the best and most loyal friend anyone could ever have. I saw Bruce and the E Street Band multiple times in their greatest period of popularity and he and Clarence never failed to play off of each other in amazing and often comical ways, even staging broad stage kisses. Those of us who enjoy Bruce's music know that it's just not the same without the Big Man.
Most of all, though, family situations bring me to tears, but almost always in a good way. Here's the best one: our son convinced the rest of us (my wife, our daughter and her hubby) that we should all take a family vacation to Walt Disney World. We worked out dates when everyone was out of school and met in central Florida (our son and his gang drove, everyone else flew). Around 10:00 PM on our first full day on the grounds we were all on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom awaiting the spectacular fireworks. Then I hear the classic "When You Wish Upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" and when Cliff Edwards (voice of Jiminy Cricket) sings "...your dreams come true," I simply broke down. Because it was perfect. I never dreamed of having such a wonderful family, and the moment just overwhelmed me. Luckily the people who cared the most about me were there with me.
I could go on, but I'm actually getting misty-eyed writing this. Hope you have a good week!
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