You can get time back

Hello all!

Last night Eve and I went to see Titanic in 3D. Maybe that's not such a big deal to anyone, maybe it is...for me - it was a BIG deal.

So, you're asking why that's a big deal to me? No - it's not because I love Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet so much! No - it's not because I identify with Celine Dion! No - it's not because I am such an History buff or a Titanic officionado! It's because when the movie was first released I was in custody in Winnsboro, LA. It was released in 1997 and my son came to visit me to tell me about this blockbuster he went to see that was unlike any movie he had ever seen. I remember telling him that I thought that would be a silly movie to go see..the Titanic sunk and all that, but wow...a 3 hour movie about it. He told me, "NO, Mom - it's a really good love story, and they show way more than just its sinking". I really, never got it while I was incarcerated.

When I came home in 2004, I had a list of movies that I wanted to see because I had missed them in the theaters, all those years. Titanic was on the list. After Chris told me he saw it 3 times and many others raved about the movie - I figured I should watch it for no other reason than to understand current culture and iconic changes in the world. I had missed a lot, and it was wise to learn how the people who lived outside of prison associated with their world. Eve and I watched the movie on DVD not long after I got home.

Well, I understood. I fully grasped how different James Cameron approached a project, and I understood how the story of the people - particularly the two portrayed in this movie - lived and died on that ship - that night. I was moved and thrilled, and more than just a little saddened by the loss of so many lives in a cold and icy sea.

Since I have seen the movie, I have watched many Discovery or History channel documentaries about Titanic. I have been to the Moody Gardens exhibit where the artifacts speak in hushed voices and seem frozen in time. I cannot hear the word Titanic without feeling the loss of so many brave people. I have learned that Titanic was not doomed to sink, but rather destined to be a legend. She was expertly captained, and amazingly engineered. Her sister ship, fashioned at the same time using the same blueprints, sailed for 25 years without incident. I do love all things Titanic, but not for the love story, but for the rememberance.

When 'they' said that Titanic was being re-released to the theaters, I was elated. I did not know, though that I would be overcome by emotions in the way that I was. The movie is, of course, so beautiful. The 3D aspect was wonderful. But...the entire film consisted of a new appreciation for the people I knew represented those who lost their lives and those who survived, and an inner dialogue with my self. I remembered little conversations from all those years ago, I remembered the look on my son's face when he excitedly told me about the movie, I remembered how it felt to see the movie on the small screen. What I did not expect was the wash of a feeling something akin to relief as I exited the theater. This iconic film, in all it's larger than life glory, was now a part of my memory in a way that only the theater can enhance. I, too, fit in with all the people who saw it back in 1997. Finally, I can say that I have seen Titanic and that I saw it at the theater.

Weird, I know...I have always been a little on the odd side. Still...there truly aren't enough words to describe how seeing this movie at the theater makes me feel like I didn't miss so much of my own life anymore.

Toodles y'all!!!! Thanks for letting me ramble!