Tonight I went with Keegan, his sisters Kali and Timshel, and their husbands Paul and Skip to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I cried for a good bit of the movie. As we left the theater, all 5 of them were talking about how terrible the movie was. I told them I wept like a baby, and that I must have had other stuff going on to provoke that sort of emotion, but laughed it off. Sure, maybe the acting wasn't the best, but the story was interesting, and it kept my attention. Brad Pitt in his prime and half-dressed on the beach is something I don't mind spending $9 to see. The story was narrated in bits by Julia Ormond, who plays a daughter who is at the hospital by her mother's bedside waiting for her to die, basically. Her mom tells her about an old diary in the suitcase, and Julia pulls it out and reads it... in short, it turns out to be Benjamin's diary, yada yada. I knew I was a gonner when the mother, who was maybe around 60 or so... perhaps cancer, was slowly starting to struggle for life. She had a difficult time breathing and mentioned cotton mouth. She had a wrap on her head, to suggest that she didn't have any hair. She looked just like my mom. Sounded like her, with her heavy breathing and slight southern drawl. It was really hard for me to watch. After the movie, I shrugged it off so everyone else would assume I just have poor taste in movies, but alas, I miss my mom.
My mom, Kathy, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in July of 2002. That day, she started an online diary. She kept up with it as best she could until the day she died, October 14th, 2003, when my dad wrote the last entry. I'd like to share it with you, as I'd hate for her writings to go unread after time. I plan on making a paper journal with the entries soon. Her journey is really something spectacular to witness. She goes through all the things you might guess- fear, hope, sadness, and ultimately peace knowing she will be with Jesus.
Here is her diary.
