Sunday, September 25, 2011

Goof Ball(s)




Today I participated in a marathon: six hours of movie-viewing!  Not Hollywood-type movies, but some (not all) of my husband’s old extended silent family movies that have been transferred from their original reels to a DVD format for posterity.

The multi-generational pass-in-review can be summarized as…inspiring.  Seeing the march of relational ties through the last 75+ years (yes, they were fortunate enough to have movies dating back to the mid-30’s) portrayed an honest look into a family broadened by a wide scope of shared experiences and mutual commitment.

Perhaps my favorite was a series of my then-young mother-and-father-in-law diving in a swimming pool while on vacation in Florida.  She looked slim and poised with her perfect jackknives off the board, while he became the clown, stiffening and going off side-ways and/or with a crazed look. 

I’ve been married into the family for 40 years, and my father-in-law passed away over 10 years ago.  After 30 years of observing him as a highly respected, strong-and-stoic mature man with a quick wit, I FINALLY understood his long-standing nick-name: Goof Ball.

And maybe, just maybe, I understood some personality trait in his son a teeny bit better, too.  My hubby definitely inherited some of those Goof Ball genes!

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