The Stories That Turned Me Human

After a long, tedious (And most likely inaccurate) count, I found out that I've made 166 little scraps of paper for my thanksgiving chain.

So many beautiful things.  I want to make a blog post about each of them.  But that would a whole 166 blog posts you probably don't want to read.

I've been changed as a person by some of the most random things.  Try writing 15 things your thankful for a day on little scraps of paper and you'll probably make the same discovery.

Maybe I'm just too easily affected by things.  Actually, making this chain opened my eyes to some of the reasons why I act the way I do.  Why I love the things I love and why I'm afraid of things I'm afraid of.

I found that I'm particularly moved by stories.

So.  Here are some of the stories that turned me into who I am today.

Whinny the Pooh

I don't know how young I was, 2 perhaps.  Too young to make the distinction between reality and fiction.  I believed in all of these characters like I believed in my own siblings, and I often wondered at times if Piglet was actually me.

Captains Courageous 

I would always argue against watching this movie during pizza-movie-nights, because most of the characters were adults and adults were boring, and in the end, it put me in a quiet mood and I didn't like being in a quite mood.  I also didn't like crying in front of people, or letting them see just how ridiculously I loved Manuel.

The Hobbit 

Mom read this book aloud to us.  I was believe I was 5 or 6.  It was the first book that truly entranced me.  When she read, I was no longer little Dr. Elemis Pott, but I was Bilbo Baggins and I was on an adventure.

Spider Man.

Among many of our phases me and siblings went through, there was a long and passionate Spider Man phase.  (We also had a dinosaur phase, a pirate phase, a cow boy phase and a ninja phase).

Peter Pan 

My siblings didn't really join me in this phase.  It was a struggle to try and find someone to play Peter Pan with me.  Also, I watched this at an age where I was old enough to make a distinction between fiction and non-fiction.  I chose not to believe in Santa Claws because I loved to torment my fellow 6 year old's who did.  But I hard core believed in Peter Pan.

Cars 

So many Pixar Movies changed me in so many ways.  It was painful, but I've chosen four that affected me the most. 

Monsters Inc.

Up

Toy Story 3

Ice Age

I know this doesn't count as a Pixar movie, but it affected me in the same way.

If there was anything inside my violent-little-bratty-self that made me strive for innocents and goodness, it was because of these movies.  It's funny what cars, monsters and mammoths can do to make you more human.

There are some common themes in all of these movies.  Things that maybe weren't intended to dissect the heart of 6 year old girl, but did. 

Most of them have something to do with growing up.

A friendship.

An unexpected sacrifice.

And then a goodbye.

Maybe I never went through anything particularly ground breaking at these ages.  But God knows what is to come, and these stories prepared me for things I hadn't experienced yet.

At my One Year Adventure Novel writing camp, Mr. S (Daniel Schwabauer) made a speech about innocents.  He ended by reading the last part of the last book of Whinny the Pooh:

Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the world, with his chin in his hands, called out "Pooh!"

"Yes?" said Pooh.

"When I'm - when --- Pooh!"

"Yes, Christopher Robin?"

"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."

"Never again?"

"Well, not so much. They don't let you."

Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again. "Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully.

"Pooh, when I'm - you know - when I'm not doing Nothing, will you come up here sometimes?"

"Just me?"

Yes, Pooh."

"Will you be here too?"

"Yes, Pooh, I will be, really. I promise I will be, Pooh."

"That's good," said Pooh

"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred."

Pooh thought for a little. "How old shall I  be then?"

"Ninety-nine."

"Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said.

Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt for Pooh's paw. "Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I - if I'm not quite --" he stopped and tried again - "Pooh, whatever happens, you will understand, won't you?"

"Understand what?"

"Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"

"Where?" said Pooh.

"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin.

         *   *   *

So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.