31: Catch Me if You Can

December 25, 2002

Crossroads, Cary, North Carolina

The early years of the new millennium were a really good time in my life.  I was teaching middle school, which was the age I preferred. I had  a wonderful boss, wonderful colleagues, and wonderful students. I was back at Meredith for a second degree-this time finishing up the French degree I didn't get the first go round, much to the chagrin of my favorite professor.  I had started running and was getting good at it.  I had even done a 5K!

Then I felt IT.  IT is that feeling women start to get.  They want a baby.  In the south, this is between 28-35.  In the north, 33-41.  Don't yell at me for being stereotypical, I have lived in both places and have observed a lot.  I was not immune to the baby lust.  I was ready to bring another person in to my family.  That might be what made me a little different, because something always makes me different-I knew I was bringing someone into the universe.  I never saw her or her brothers as "Babies."  They were people joining our family.  I still see them like that-and it is so true.

But, that Christmas, I had a feeling, this would be my last Christmas as a free adult for a very, very, long time. I needed to do something I wouldn't be able to do as a mom. I needed to see a movie on Christmas day!  What mother gets to drop what she is doing and go see a movie without planning?  

Exactly!

This movie appealed to me.

 Three main reasons:

1.  I adore Leonardo Dicaprio-from What's Eating Gilbert Grape to Romeo and Juliet and Gangs of New York and everything in between.
2. Tom Hanks took a step back.  A true professional will do that.  He was a two time academy award winner in a minor role. That reflects on him as a person. I like the role, I want the role, so what if it isn't the main role? That's all there is to it. 
3. The actual man is a good person. He had a rough time, he made horrible mistakes, he went to prison, he is doing the right thing now.  People can grow and change.  Don't forget that!

We left my grandparents house in Winston-Salem, went to the movies, and were pregnant a month later.

A new chapter in my life was about to begin.


That was Christmas of 2002. I didn't go see another movie on Christmas day until 2011-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  That just proves we do what we have to do and we do what we want to do, and life is give and receive.  Everything in its time!

Even Tom Hanks knows when it's time to hang back...