I’ll begin with a couple of admissions: (1) I’m a sucker for an inspirational sports movie, and (2) I have very little talent in the world of movie reviews. So take my “two thumbs up” pronouncement for “We Are Marshall” with a grain of salt; my blog-friend Mr. Reel Fanatic and most major reviewers weren’t using a lot of superlatives for this movie in their columns.

But I thought it was outstanding!

The plane crash that prompted this story occurred a couple of months after I was born, and I thought the movie captured the emotion of such a horrible event as best as possible (the horror of the plane crash, mind you, not my birth, though my mom might disagree). The stars of the movie performed admirably, and in an emotional story such as this, I think Matthew McConaughey’s humorous portrayal of Coach Jack Lengyel was perfect.

In retrospect, I can see Reel Fanatic’s point about the emotional stories of those dealing with their grief being somewhat scattered and disconnected. But I guess that made it seem a bit more realistic to me, since tragedy on that level feels scattered and disconnected anyway. But as a moviegoer who would like to get involved in the storylines of the characters, he has a good point.

Still, for my money, it was worth the $3.75 for the matinee and two hours of my afternoon. In fact, I think I got quite a deal.

CAUTION: SCENE SPOILER AHEAD!

I’ll share my favorite scene from the movie for anyone who might be interested. I loved it when Coach Lengyel admitted that his favorite offense wouldn’t work with the ragtag team he had assembled and began brainstorming with his coaching staff. Coach Red Dawson suggested running the veer as a possibility and mentioned that their rival, West Virginia University, was the best at running it. So Coach Lengyel decided to go ask WVU coach, Bobby Bowden, for some advice!

In addition to his boldness (which I loved!), I equally loved Coach Bowden’s reaction! His willingness to share his knowledge with a rival who had undergone such tragedy, combined with the scene revealing that he had stickers attached to his team’s helmets in honor of Marshall, was poignant.

I left that particular scene with both a commitment to go to unconventional places to pursue something worth pursuing AND a commitment to honor even my enemies when they are hurting. Both of which are life lessons worth a heck of a lot more than the $3.75.

LITTLE-KNOWN MARSHALL TRIVIA:

* Billy Crystal attended Marshall for one year on a baseball scholarship!
* Singer, Michael W. Smith, is a Marshall alum.

With my work done for the week and my family out of town, I decided to do one of my favorite things in the world to do (particularly given those aforementioned circumstances), and I spent the day in New Orleans taking pictures.

With all due modesty, I’ll have to admit that I ended up with a LOT of good pictures. You’ll have to check out my Webshots page (linked in the left-hand column) where I plan to put my top 20 from today in its very own folder.

This is my third post-Katrina trip to New Orleans, and as with the other two times, you cannot miss the telltale signs. I’m not sure of the cause, but there was a completely awful smell that seeped into the car around Crowder Boulevard (Exit 242) as I entered the city, and I simply assumed it had something to do with the sights along the sides of the Interstate there. I exited at Elysian Fields (a.k.a. the Lower Ninth Ward) and drove around the area for a while. There were definitely a lot more people than last year at this time, but it is still an awful mess. Simply sad…

Afterwards, I drove to the French Quarter where I spent my day. There may be better photo-opportunistic places in the world, but I’m not aware of any. I had a blast.

The picture above came from when I stumbled upon the shooting of a Sugar Bowl commercial on Royal Street. And that was just the beginning of the day. Check out the photo album to see…

I wore my new “Arkansas” t-shirt Erica gave me for Christmas, and I got a few “Woo Pigs” remarks every once in a while. The most surprising came at the end of Bourbon Street while I was photographing Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. The crew that stopped me included Jerry & Melinda Cobb, a couple I knew from many years ago now! They had tagged along as cooks for Jonesboro, Arkansas’s “Youth in Action” crew that is in New Orleans this week (specifically, Chalmette), gutting homes and literally becoming “youth in action.” They were wandering the Quarter, too, and it was really cool to see them.

I’ve been an amateur photographer for around four years now, and my interest has waxed and waned along the way. Well, it’s getting all waxy again, and New Orleans was a great kickoff for a bunch of new projects I have in mind.

Well, I’ve got to go work on my pictures!

To protect both the innocent and the guilty, I won’t divulge names of the people or places that comprised my afternoon. Suffice it to say that I spent the afternoon visiting with a friend who is in recovery.

He seems to have it, and by “it” I think you know what I mean: he has the will to recover. He has repented, to use the tired religious phrase, but to risk sounding skeptical I think there is a long way to go. He has hit the bottom and begun to look up, but the road ahead is long, and the demons are crouching in the shadows. Oh, I’m not questioning his commitment or his chances at succeeding. I’m just saying that there’s a long road ahead of him.

The facility was impressive. It was the first time I had been to this particular location, and I found it to be a really neat place. And my friend is a disciple for sure. He sings its praises and credits it with helping turn around his crazy mixed-up life.

It is an unashamedly Christian recovery program, at odds in many ways with the more traditional techniques. This came out rather quickly when my friend explained his discovery that he wasn’t so much an addict as he was a sinner. He discovered that it wasn’t alcohol or drugs specifically – it could have been anything. The root problem was spiritual, as is his celebrated solution.

I can’t help but think about it all tonight. Somewhere in a treatment facility I have a friend who is in recovery. And isn’t recovery where we all ought to be tonight?

One of the neat things about “church” this time of year is the chance to see so many old friends when they come home for the holidays. Tonight was great for that reason exactly.

The picture above is of the last folks standing (other than me) after all the visiting. We had class for an hour tonight, then stayed and talked for another hour. The talking afterwards was a whole lot better than the class I taught.

The Shows family is one of the neatest families I’ve ever met. Bill, the patriarch (pictured above), is the guy who put the “gentle” in gentleman, and you will never meet a finer person. He is also defined by the word “unassuming.” He moved to Pensacola from Ocean Springs a couple of years ago, and we all found out about it after he was gone! He just doesn’t like drawing attention to himself. But much to our delight, a few weeks ago, Bill moved back to Ocean Springs with about as much fanfare as his departure. We are so lucky to have him back around.

Part of the reason we’re lucky to have him around is that his kids will come and visit us, too! You will be hard-pressed to find a family that has such an impressive set of siblings, and there are SIX in all! The three not pictured (Becky in Texas, Jesse in Arizona, and Luke in Florida) should grace our church family at some point along the way, and we will be excited to see them. Tonight, we got the chance to enjoy the three beautiful ladies pictured above (Johnie Carol from Colorado, and Vanessa & Lisa who both live in North Carolina now).

The matriarch of the family was JoNan, and she was the most unforgettable person in the whole family. She had been battling cancer for years before I arrived in Ocean Springs, and even though cancer is a brutal opponent, JoNan won most of the time. She was fearless, and just by being fearless, she inspired all of us. She fought cancer for ten years before laying down to rest.

But boy did she leave quite a legacy behind in this special family.

I love all the Shows, but Lisa (far right) is extra special to me. I moved to Ocean Springs in February of 1999, and Lisa was a senior in high school. One month after I moved here I had the chance to drive her to a youth rally in Baton Rouge to catch up with the youth group since she had to work the night before. I was blown away by her maturity at that age, but even more than that, I was amazed to hear her speak about her family. Lisa is the youngest, and she spoke with awe about her siblings and the way they lived their lives. She told me of motherly Becky, and successful Luke, and footloose Johnie Carol backpacking across Europe; she talked of independent Jesse and fun-loving Vanessa at Pepperdine and her plans to follow Vanessa there. With such a family ahead of her, Lisa could not help being extra special.

Lisa had the chance to eat lunch with my Erica yesterday, and I couldn’t have been happier. She’s the kind of person I would love to have both my daughters spend time with every day.

But we just get chances like this during the holidays it seems. So I’ll just count my blessings…

Read it and weep, non-believers! Take a long gander at the picture taken at my house yesterday morning and consider: I’VE GOT PROOF!!!

‘Twas the day after Christmas, and I went back to work… As did many (but not all) of you…

The day after Christmas is so anti-climatic. I mean, we’ve waited a whole year to take a full day off, open presents, eat ourselves silly, watch parades & football and just hang out with our family and friends…

And then it’s over.

Now we say with much-less excitement: only 364 more shopping days ’til Christmas!!!

But there’s good news still to be had: only 6 more days until another federal holiday!!!!

A Christmas morning wish for a happy holiday from my family to yours…

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and I’m ready to go get some sleep!!!

We had a really nice worship time with our church family this morning, and then after two full days my wife spent cooking, we enjoyed a really nice evening meal with some friends from that church family tonight!

It started with Tom & Laura, our South Dakota friends who are here in South Mississippi courtesy of the United States Air Force. They are far away from family, so Jody asked them over for dinner tonight.

It continued with Jackie and her son, Will. Jackie’s husband (Sean) is a nurse with the United States Air Force, and they also would be separated from family this evening – PLUS Sean had to work tonight, so Jody also invited Jackie & Will.

Then yesterday, Jody found out our friends, Tracy & Shanna, were going to be sitting at home on Christmas Eve because of a break in all their various family commitments this holiday season, so they came over with their children, Freddy, Tristen, and sweet Emily (pictured above).

Lots of great food and conversation, along with some friendly crokinole action & a few games of darts in the garage. It was a really nice Christmas Eve.

Well, there are some cookies & milk with my name on them (well, close enough to my name), so I’d better get to my normal Christmas Eve work!

Merry Christmas everyone…

It’s been a very nice & lazy day.

Our oldest took our youngest (and a couple of her buddies) to see “Night at the Museum” today, and they had a blast. Is it just me, or are there a bunch of movies coming out this Christmas that look very good? I heard a good report on “Rocky Balboa” last night, and I know I want to see “We Are Marshall” sometime. With my track record, I probably won’t get around to seeing any of them, but they look good at least.

Anyway, our girls little movie trip allowed my wife & I to spend some time together getting ready for Christmas, but more importantly, also have a great conversation. That made today great, all by itself.

I ventured out of the house for the first time this week, pretty much because I needed to do a few things at the church building before our Christmas Eve service on Sunday. I felt lightheaded the whole time and wondered if it was a good idea after all.

I almost backed out of going to our friends (Matt & Hollie’s) tonight, but after considering that I’d just be sitting around our house anyway, I figured I could sit around theirs, too. And I’m very glad I did.

We have a lot of neat friends, and our resident fireworks expert (Herman, pictured above) brought in another huge haul to entertain the kids (and adults, too!). I don’t guess we shot off any Christmas fireworks in Northeast Arkansas when I was a kid, but the great weather on the Gulf Coast combined with the early New Years Eve fireworks sale makes it a good idea.

We only had one VERY exciting moment tonight, when one of the fireworks tipped over and shot at the crowd. I had pretty much the closest view, but to tell the truth I’m still so drained from being sick this week that I didn’t get too excited about it! More funny than scary…

It’s been a good night. Speaking of good nights, good night.

The rumors are true.

Though I’m still not completely out of the “low in the gravy lay” part of my illness, I feel the tense anticipation of the (much faster) “up from the gravy arose” chorus just around the corner. I had to go to the bullpen twice tonight for two events I would have liked to have attended, but maybe after one more day, I’ll be able to venture out of the house again.

One piece of good news: I’ve not had to put gas in my car this week.

I’ve developed one more appreciation to share: for those placed in solitary confinement. Even though my family has been here off and on since Monday morning, I’m still about to go NUTS being here at home all the time.

In between the bouts of puking & his embarrassing cousin Monday & Tuesday, I did an awful lot of sleeping. That has now caught up to me. I woke up yesterday morning about 4am unable to go back to sleep, and after being up all day yesterday, I decided to lay down for the night around 10:30pm last night.

Well…

I began on the couch. From there I moved to the daybed in my office. From there I moved to the living room floor. From there I moved to the hide-a-bed sofa. From there I just sat up in the darkness and watched the time go by… (well, in the darkness you can’t really watch anything go by…). About 3am this morning I was FINALLY able to go to sleep, and that for about four whole hours. Now I’ve been up all day again.

On the up-side, I finished books 9 and 10 of “Series of Unfortunate Events,” and tonight I’m pretty sure I’ll finish book 11. Reading about the poor Baudelaire children does make me feel a bit better about myself.

But I digress…

I’m feeling better. And I’ve abandoned all longings for a life of crime, seeing as how such behavior could lead to a life of solitary confinement.

So overall, those are good things.