Raindrops on Roses

Moonlight viewed while everyone else is asleep, perhaps everyone in the whole town...
Teaching with an extraordinarily well-thought-out lesson...
The first bite of banana in a banana split...
A book that inspires tears and laughter...

I loved The Sound of Music as a child. There's something about the earnestness of Julie Andrews. It's comforting to watch and see someone with so many struggles try to make a strange place brighter. The indomitable spirit. (I love that word) It's something to aspire to.

Cold fresh red seedless grapes...
The smell of new-cut grass...
Sheets out of the dryer, cleansed and smelling of bleach...
The skillful hands of the hairdresser at the shampoo station...

I used to watch that movie over and over. I always felt my stomach clench when Rolfe meets up with the family in the cemetary. I knew what he would do, and yet this time, I hoped with all my might, he would not blow the whistle. He would help them, escape with them.

An in-utero soccer game...
Connecting with the softball, and the accompanying ring of the bat...
Counting freckles on a youngun's nose...
The taste of chocolate after a Lenten fast...

Rewind the film, though, and look at Maria. Certain of her convent decision, instead sent to look after rigidly disciplined children. Free-spirited and young, confronted with unquestionable command. Subversively, then openly advocating loosening of the restraints, relaxation of rigidity. Parallelling the dilemma of submission to the Nazis in their reunification with Austria.

Earth's last gravitational tug during takeoff...
Crisp, cold snow planted at the base of a warm neck...
Triumph of a well-written script...
Soothing strong hands on weary shoulders...

I'll soon share this movie with the Little Critter. I want her to love it as I have. And I think she will, as she has often asked me to sing My Favorite Things to her when she isn't feeling her best. And do you know, it works for her. It never fails to bring a smile. It never fails to soothe her.

And I'm hoping, after the evening I had, that it will work for me as well.