Tonight's Grammy to Steve Martin

I'm using a vignette from Steve Martin's Father of the Bride in a key spot in my writing project. So we watched the movie tonight as a family. I still have the VHS tape...less than impressive. The quality of the drama overshadows the low definition presentation.

It struck me that this movie goes right to the heart of my TZX ambitions. 

Five great questions of life: Life * Love * Learning * Labor * Leadership

Tonight's Grammy to Steve Martin

We have the lovable young adult daughter, Annie--recently graduated and fresh home from an adventure in Rome. Then we have the lovable, over-protective Dad, George--oscillating between dynamo and dork while never losing his daughter's affections. This is all about leaving home.

George routinely flashes back to Annie's growing-up years. Boy, do I understand that. As I age, I find more and more moments to be haunted with the meaning and emotion of who we used to be. Selective memory is a good thing, but who we are includes who we were. True love, true forgiveness, and true redemption are magnified when we skim quickly through the many chapters of our life stories.

That said, it's not hard to understand how a doting father like George Banks would tend to blow a gasket when he feel his daughter being pulled away. Annie and Papa George have this camaraderie and helpfulness through this whole "I'm getting married to someone you've never met before" tension.

The marriage is a big deal, but the central theme of the story is George and Annie and their relationship as she leaves the nest. I like the way Annie drew her boundaries but still stayed connected. I like the way George worked through his unwillingness to accept the changes. Annie ultimately left home, but the father-daughter bond was honored even as it was reshaped.

As our Megan prepares for her July wedding, I'm so thankful that she's experiencing love as a bride-to-be and as a daughter forever. Thank you, Jesus, for a fresh re-telling of the story of Love.