My 5 Life Lessons:
1 Always listen to my husband. He suggested that we buy our tickets online several hours before the show started. When we arrived, the line to the movie was out the door. We would have never made it if I hadn’t listened to him.
2 Life is tragic. Period. It seems the longer I live, the more I see this theme. If you’ve seen this show, you know the countless people that experience tremendous tragedy. Especially poor Fantine. She loses her job, sells her hair, her teeth and worse to support her child. “There was a time when the world was a song, and the song was exciting. There was a time. Then it all went wrong.” I am still shocked that Jude is not perfectly healthy. When you deliver a baby, and all is well, you thank God and think it’s over. We didn’t figure out that Jude had anything really medically wrong with him until he started having myoclonic seizures at 15 months. I never saw it coming. And while I’m lucky I still have my hair, I feel Fantine’s sense of loss of that dream.
The movie was amazing. The theater was completely full, and completely silent until the end when all you could hear were little sobs as people tried to hide their tears. It really was a great Christmas movie. I think about Mary, feeling a bit like Fantine. I’m sure hers was not the life she imagined. Cold, alone, pregnant. And the incredible forgiveness we get, and even better, can give. Christmas miracles indeed.
Merry Christmas.