last night ROF and i watched movie # 25 on our quest to watch the A.F.I (american film institute) top 100 movies. we have been working our way to #1 and it has taken us about 3 years now. you can read about our journey here.
the #25 movie was E.T. i haven’t seen E.T. since i was 12 years old in the movie theatre in grand blanc, michigan. i remember crying my eyes out. this movie is a great movie on so many different levels. watching it as a 43 year old, i notice the similarities of life and especially how it paralleled my own just this past week. E.T. was a stranger. someone that didn’t fit it. someone that wasn’t wearing yoga pants and carrying a louis vuitton bag. E.T. was odd at first and sweet just after a few moments of getting to know him. he was scary and odd to adults, but to kids he was a friend and someone they wanted to help.
a week ago today, we put our beloved english bulldog, max, to rest. he was suffering, in pain and not happy. boy, did we love that dog. at first you may be thinking that i’m going to make a deep correlation between loving a pet and what happened in E.T. and you’d be right. but actually, max was just like E.T. physically. grunting, whining, waddling to get a scrap and he ate like a pig. best dog in the world.
at 12 i bawled my eyes out because i didn’t know how to deal with death.
i didn’t understand good-bye forever. at 43, i know how that feels now. not just because of max, but because of wrigley, my lab that my brother had to put down just a few weeks before max, because of losing my dad too early and losing some friends. watching E.T. puts that feeling into a short, well-written movie. it’s about being open enough to welcome someone new and, maybe, different into your life, loving them, teaching them, learning from them and then letting them go. they are not ours to keep. nothing is ours. be thankful for every minute of every day you have them. then give them back to God.
Tags: AFI top 100 movies, amy fulford, coping with a loss, death, E.T, loss of a pet, max
