Us and Up

From Cheap Wine and Cookies

Ok, I'm pretty certain we were about the last family on the eastern seaboard to watch the movie Up, and normally I wouldn't post about something quite so irrelevant. But this movie struck me so strangely, and I was wondering if anyone else had a similar reaction to the movie.

I thought this movie was sad. Sad to a degree that it actually surprised me even after my brother (Boo), who has always been able to predict my tastes, told me that it would make me sad. I guess it wasn't just that the movie had sad parts, but how quickly they came on. Boo thought the part that would bother me the most would be when the momma bird breaks a leg and can't get back to her young. And yes, that part was heart wrenching. But I knew through my mad deduction skills that that part would have to come later in the movie after the guy had flown away in his house.

From Cheap Wine and Cookies

So I was not prepared for the emotional assault that opened the film. I was totally sucked in to the cute story of the happy couple with the same unusual interests, her desire to drag him along on her crazy adventure, watching them redecorate their new home (and MacGyver had to point out that it was just like us because I would so be the one with the bigger chair, lol),

From Cheap Wine and Cookies

and man was I sucked in when all the clouds turned in to babies. And then, as soon as I was completely at the mercy of this friggin G-rated Disney/Pixar kids' movie, the sad started.There would be no babies for them - a huge fear of mine right now as I count down ever so *ahem* patiently to the removal of my IUD. But they get past it and continue to be wildly happy on their adventure together. And then, WHAM. The end. One of them is gone, and the other is alone after all that. I was absolutely ashamed by how unbelievably choked up I was. And there was a full grown very masculine adult man next to me, but I'm not allowed to say whether there were any tears on his part . . .

It led me into a whole line of thinking I don't even want to pursue. One of those, the happier you are, the more you have to loose sorts of deals. Aching for that poor little old man just existing in the vaccum left after such a happy life. Ugh! I could wax poetic about my marriage to MacGyver; about how happy I am; how our life is so similar to this cartoon love story; and about living every day to its fullest and not looking ahead to that inevitable day when one of us is gone (we both agree that "till death do us part" meant exactly that - not until I don't feel like it anymore or am sick of you or just want to try things out with someone else, ugh, don't get me started). BUT, that isn't the purpose of this post, and I'm not particularly eloquent when it comes to matters of the heart anyway (just check out our Anniversary). My point is, I was not prepared for the emotional blow.

And, of course, Punky barely even blinked. It always amuses me to see different things through the eyes of a child vice the eyes of an adult. Sure, she thought it was sad, but she was more anxious to see him fly his house; they were old anyway; and she obviously has no personal context for that sort of relationship. MacGyver and I were definitely trying to conceal our reactions lest we get teased by our 7 year old daughter for being crybabies, lol.

But was that the end of the sadness assault? No! Once we finally got over the first blow, being amused by the house taking off and all those antics, we encounter a selfless mother bird who can't get back to save her babies and an adorable, loveable, loyal and sweet pup who faces repeated rejection on all fronts. My heartstrings definitely got one heck of a workout during that movie. Yes, it had a happy ending, but damn. I was not ready for that.

I think I'm going soft . . . Ugh. Don't tell the Marines.