Thursday, December 18, 2008

So you're the one.

My favorite part about the Christmas season is the movies. Not your typical "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's a Wonderful Life", no what I love is that the movie channels break out the classics. Things like "Breakfast Club" and "Mary Poppins" and the Christmas Eve traditional showing of "Sound of Music". My mother in law and I liked to sing along to that one, back in the day when we lived in the frozen tundra of the north. We had to sing loud to drown out the incessant yelling of things like "Is that a cat in heat outside?" and "I think the kitchen window just shattered". But did that stop us? NO IT DIDN'T!

I have to say though overall my favorite movie that seems to only be shown this time of year is "Top Gun"

I was 11 when Top Gun hit the theaters and my BFF Heather and I begged and bribed and whined until her brother agreed to take us to the Bay Theater in his orange Chevy Nova and buy us tickets. Because we simply had to see it. Even at 11, I was a sucker for a man with a uniform.



Oh, I swoon to this day over perfectly pressed pants and a crisp shirt....



but let's not digress there, because we'll never come back from my cataloguing the virtues of a well kept man.

I remember sniffling and wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my sweatshirt when Goose died,



trying to act cool but then totally losing it when Meg Ryan hugged Maverick and told him to fly anyway; that Goose would have wanted him to.



Mostly though, I remember leaving that tiny, filthy theater with the unwavering desire to be Charlie.



I begged my mother for permission to cut and perm my waist length stick straight hair. I colored over my blond eyebrows with mascara swiped from my mom's makeup case and I practiced saying witty things like "Hemlock, is it?" as I donned men's undershirts liberated from my fathers drawers.



I studied up on things like her car (a Volkswagen Karmenn Ghia, that I would STILL love to have to this day!)



and I dreamed of afternoons lounging on the porch of my adorable beach front cottage



spent with boys fresh from the volleyball pit



How, exactly, I planned to accomplish these things was irrelevant. Dreams often lack specifics in my experience.

But oh how the weight and substance of those dreams carried me through many an angsty junior high night.

I think that's what this season should really be about, don't you? Not presents, not huge dinners, not rushing to and fro and stressing about how much it's all going to cost. The spirit of Christmas, to me, is the possibility that one day, all your dreams are going to come true.

16 little kittens say Meow:

Jane! said...

Wow, you had a lot of direction for an 11-year-old. I'm pretty sure that at that age the only thoughts in my head were how to get through the day without having to spend time in the presence of my asshead older brother.
Hair and clothes? Didn't give them much thought. Oh wait! I still don't. Ha! Or rather I LOOK like I don't.
Great story. I may even have to (finally) watch Top Gun. I know... the shame.

Lorrie Veasey said...

OMGAWD THYSTLE: I FELT THE SAME WAY WHEN I SAW HER IN WITNESS!! I TRIED FOR A FULL YEAR TO TURN AMISH SO I COULD MEET A MAN LIKE HARRISON.

(BTW- I am yelling so that Jane! cane hear me)

Chandra said...

I so LOVE the beach Volleyball scene...men without shirts **drool**, probably one of my favorite scenes in a movie ever!
And one of the best lines..."Maverick..take me to bed or loose me forever" all the while "Great Balls of Fire" is playing in the background...how I love 80's movies!

Amy said...

I love it, lol. I remember seeing Top Gun for the first time. And then I watched it again with DH at some point, and him being in the Navy, he tore it apart, lol.

I can't watch any movies involving the military with him.

Miss Thystle said...

Yeah, mine does that too.so much so that I find myself doin it! And not just about the costumes!

Bj in Dallas said...

I feel the NEED for SPEED.........

Unknown said...

So are you saying watch out Mr. Fedex guy or Mr. Brown also?

Sorry but the best movie of all times is Army of Darkness.

ZDub said...

I love Top Gun, but you know what Tom Cruise movie (pre-crazy) I can watch over and over again?

Cocktail.

I may have to go watch that right now.

Robin said...

I love TopGun....and as you know I always cry when Goose dies. If Roy lets me watch it that long. After Charlie says "Hey Stud Take me to bed or lose me forever." we turn it something else...becuz Goose dies.

and I tell all the time..."Do some of that pilot shit Mav!"

and is there anything more handsome than a man in dress whites????

I asked Roy that once.
He looked totally shocked!!
"Yes a Marine in dress Blues!!"
I lost my head there for moment.

kristin said...

I totally rocked the white tee and blazer as a Kelly wannabe.

And there was another movie with a fire jumper...always made me tear up like the scene where Goose dies. Maybe Richard Dreyfuss is in it? Anyone?

Robin said...

dreyfuss...Always with Holly Hunter.

Anonymous said...

We call Days of Thunder Top Car. I think it's appropriate.

And I hate to sait Thystle, but I have never been a Tom Cruise fan. Except for maybe Magnolia. He's always sorta given me the creeps.

Lorrie Veasey said...

Spent an hour with Mr. Cruise while he was still married to Nicole wayyyyyyy back in the 80s at that Tim Burton film about the horror films-you know the one that brought Martin Landau back into the spotlight--ANYhooo: he was definition of INTENSE. And short. I'm guessing most of his posturing is due to being phallically challenged.

WHO IS ERIC? Because he is so right: Army of Darkness rocks.

Amy said...

I've never watched Top Gun. I think I'll search for it on tv now though and give it a shot. But now I'm going to know that Goose dies. Thanks :)

Roth Wriscey said...

I'll have to watch that movie one day. But then I'd lose the reaction I get from people who freak out and hate me when I tell them I've never seen this or most movies. Feel free to freak now.

P.S. My big sister stalked Tom Cruise when he was making Days of Thunder near our house in 1990 and she was about 16. How she found him eating dinner at a secret house was pretty smart, I'll tell the story one day.

kristin said...

I saw meg Ryan in "The Land of WOmen" recently - her lips look NOTHING like they do in that pic.

Botox, baby! Ick.