2: The River Wild

Year: 1994
Place: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
With:  Deanna, Phillip, and Binnie

Everyone: Think of your favorite Meryl Streep....you have five seconds...go....

Kramer vs. Kramer?
Death Becomes Her?
Music of the Heart?
The Devil Wears Prada?
Sophie's Choice?
A Cry in the Dark?

Damn...she is quite the actress. She has won two Oscars and nominated several times. I have a feeling they could film her blowing her nose and put it on youtube and it would get an Oscar nod.  I'm not kidding. I also like that she is an incredible mom to four grown children.  Meryl was just in Guilford filming at our little grocery store.  I didn't go try to catch a glimpse of the greatness-the thirty-somethings upstairs did though. Wait, I'm a thirty-something too....ugh.  Life and definitions get complicated.

The movie I'm thinking about tonight is The River Wild.   Meryl has played all kinds of roles, has she not?  A holocaust survivor, a music teacher, an incredibly tall and well loved chef.  In the early 90s, she decided to take on the hardships of being a mother and white water rafting guide-that happens to be fluent in ASL.

One of my college roommates was from Myrtle Beach. I pity people that don't have college roommates.  There is no other relationship that compares to that one.  The cool thing about that was, if she invited you to go "Home" with her, you were going to the beach!  Woo who!!!!

I went "home" with her a couple of times.  One time, her mother really wanted to see "The River Wild."

Unlike the little girl two doors down in 3rd-5th grade, Deanna and I were very in sync when it came to movies.  We liked the weird crap no one else would watch.  She called me the night she and her now husband went to see Lost in Translation and told me I had to go. When Pulp Fiction came out, we both forgave John Travolta for making Look Who's Talking.  Her mom wanted to take us to a nice dinner at the Olive Garden and then go see this movie.  We heard Italian Dinner and we heard Meryl Streep.  So we said, "Heck yes!"

I have to admit, while it wasn't The French Lieutenant's Woman, I was on the edge of my seat.  First off, Meryl had some freaking muscles.  Rowing crew is not a joke and I'm sure she had to work out for the role.  In between the bad guys and the rapids, she was using sign language to tell her little boy all would be fine.  That was pretty awesome.  Little did I know in 1994 that I would get pretty proficient in sign language around 2005.  Motherhood changes everything.  The film was an adrenaline rush and a chance to say that any Meryl Streep film could get you back to Kevin Bacon.  I'm glad Meryl made it.  The best of the best drama queens can make a thriller!  It was a good film and a good night with Deanna and her parents.

Dee's mom has been sick for a while now.  Tonight, I called to check on her and tell her how my kids were doing.  All she wanted to hear about was the time we took all four children, her grandson and my three, to the art museum.  When I had to go because I heard a crash, she said, "Thank you for calling me." and I said, "No, thank you for letting me and all those other crazy college girls come crash at the beach for free."  She had a really good laugh at that.

What I learned from Meryl Streep is that you can play, literally, many different roles. And no matter what role you are playing-if you are Out of Africa or a She-Devil, you need to remember who was with you for each one, and you need to take the time to say thank you for them.