Back in the Olden, Olden Days, when I was a teenager, in Waco, we had three television stations. At some point, we got a big, tall antenna at our house, and were able to get a couple of the Dallas stations, and it seemed great! But, nothing, at all, compared to these modern times, when scores and scores of television stations are available. Twenty-four/seven.
It didn’t seem so awful to us, and, as a teenager, I wasn’t watching television ‘way into the night, on school nights, anyway. And, even on the weekend, there just wasn’t much to watch. And that was challenging, because when it came to baby-sitting on weekends, the little kids would go to bed reasonably early, and then, after the news, there might be old movies.
I haven’t done research on this, but I suspect that older women, like myself, have those memories of watching old movies. And, it seemed as though, when we were baby-sitting, and looking for a movie to watch, it often turned out to be one that we’d already seen.
Several years ago, Jeremy and I were traveling back home to Waco after being at a conference center in North Carolina for three weeks. We stopped for lunch, and, a large, cold, soft drink got spilled into my lap while we were eating. (No need to mention how that happened.) It wasn’t a disaster, and we traveled on. We’d planned to stop to spend the night somewhere in Mississippi, I think. As we started looking for a place to stay, we saw a hotel that boasted laundry rooms. Done. We got some fast food and checked in.
I’d packed up all my clothes and Jeremy’s clothes in suitcases that I hadn’t planned to bring into the hotel, just a small tote with overnight stuff. In our room, I changed into my nightgown and sent Jeremy with my cola clothing and some quarters to the laundry room just across from our room. Then, we began to settle in to have our dinner and watch some television. I ran through several channels and then stopped. I recognized the opening credits of a movie.
“Oh, Jeremy,” I said. “This is a great movie! And,” I went on,”it’s Auntie’s babysitting movie!”
And Jeremy said, “Huh?”
When we were teenagers, and would be babysitting, we’d watch old movies after the kids had gone to bed. And, so very often, it would be the same movie that we’d watched last time we babysat. (I’m not trying to explain how it happened, just that it did happen.) And, parents often came home before the movie was over, so it might take weeks or months before we’d actually seen the entire movie. At one house, we might see the end of the movie. At the next house, we might see the end of the evening news and then the beginning of the familiar movie. It might take many babysitting evenings before we’d seen all the parts of our movie.
My sister’s babysitting movie was Mister Roberts. And I didn’t even ask Jeremy if he was okay with watching this movie. I just said, “It’s a wonderful movie. You’ll like it.” And it seemed like he did. Really, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Cagney, and Jack Lemon, who won an Academy Award for his part.
My sister’s best friend’s babysitting movie was Black Orpheus, set in Rio during Carnival. It’s a retelling of the story of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is visually very dark (as I remember it, because I also saw, at least parts, of the movie). And, the story’s pretty dark, too.
And, my babysitting movie . . .
I sat down this afternoon and looked at the TV listings. Hmmmm. Anything I’d like to see this evening? And, oh, yes, there it was, on the Turner Classic Movies site. An Affair to Remember. I cannot tell you how many parts of that movie I saw over the years of babysitting. Up until a few years ago, I had never seen the opening credits of the movie, and, at that time, I actually watched the entire movie, start to finish, right until . . . well, I won’t spoil anything. You might want to visit some old movie site, or go to your local library and see if they have a copy of the video. Or, maybe you’ll just reminisce about other touching experiences you had as a teenager.
Jesus’ disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you use nothing but stories when you speak to the people?” I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand.
Matthew 13: 10, 13
Movies are fun and interesting and emotional, but I am grateful that, when I need encouragement or guidance or discernment, there’s a place I can go that’s a little more concrete than a movie theater.