Advice

I was home in Texas for a week, maybe ten days, which was about the way my visits to my family went.  I was sitting in the living room, enjoying one of my favorite films on cable TV when Mama walked in from the kitchen, clearly on her way back to the Master Bedroom.  She saw a face on the television and stopped.

“Oooh, Julia Roberts.”

I paused the film from the cable remote.

“Mommy, you can’t watch this movie.”

“Why not?” she wanted to know.  “I love Julia Roberts.”

It was true, My Mam is, and always has been, a dedicated Julia Roberts fan.  When Mama becomes a fan of somebody, she stays with them until they do something, really do something, to make her revisit her stance.  I did not want Mama to change her opinion of Julia Roberts, she had meant too much to her over the years.

“This is not your kind of movie, Mama, you will not like it.”

“Why?”

“I know you, and I know you well, and I promise you, you will not like this movie.  If it ever comes on, you must promise me you won’t watch it.”

“What is it called?”  she asked.

“This movie is called CLOSER and it stars Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen.  It is the most honest and frank representation of relationships and sexuality that you can find in a mainstream film, and, I promise you, you will not like it.  It is too frank for you, the language will upset you, the topic will bother you, the lying will upset you, and the sexuality will make you uncomfortable.”

“Ok,” she said, and, with that, she continued her journey out of the room, down the hall, and to the bedroom she shared with Me Father.

Some two or three weeks later, I was back in New York City and making one of my regular calls home to chat with my parents.  Mama and I were talking, first, because Daddy was not (in those days) a big phone talker (that has, since, changed).  We were catching up on the basics of life, on what everyone was doing, and on the adventures/mundanities split.  Out of nowhere, My Mam said:

“Do you remember that Julia Roberts movie you told me not to watch?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“It’s AWFUL.  How can you watch that movie?  It’s just TERRIBLE.”

“I told you that you wouldn’t like it.”

“Well, I didn’t.  It is a TERRIBLE movie.  I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”