White Horse and All

If you’re a baby boomer (I barely qualify by having been born in the last official year of the baby boom) then you’ve probably noticed along with me that Hollywood seems to be aging with us. Or maybe it’s just that the Hollywood actors and actresses I’ve followed since young adulthood are moving into roles that portray the next obvious faze in their lives and mine. I’ve watched Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, and Denzel Washington progress from hot, young ingenues and hunks to hip thirty-somethings to seasoned stars. And now they’re all playing the same parts I am: tired, dated, and slightly heavier middle-aged adults trying to figure out what’s next!

Case in point: Tom Hanks in Larry Crowne

and Steve Carrell and Marisa Tomei in Crazy, Stupid, Love. 

Actually I’m really looking forward to seeing both of these movies this summer. For one thing, I love a good romantic comedy, which I’m assuming these to be. Second, both movies feature some of my favorite actors and actresses. And finally, I can relate to the whole “How did I get here and how do I move on gracefully?” theme.

We women love a good chick flick, huh? Or at least most women I know do. Why is that? Well, for one thing I think we all love the common, every-man kind of hero they usually feature. Gone are the days when the romantic lead was portrayed as perfect and dashing and without flaw. When Hollywood figured out that none of us were buying that image anymore, they stopped trying to convince us that he’s out there. We know he’s not out there because we all thought we married him, only later to find out later that we didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong; I love my husband. He’s handsome and good and funny and smart and a lot of fun. But I also get to wash his dirty clothes, clean the tooth paste out of his sink, and throw away his soda cans (which I find on the table beside the sofa most every morning). He’s a plumb, but he’s not perfect. And fortunately he would agree. And he’d add, “Back at ya, Kay!”

We all love a cute, witty, and brave love interest. But we generally love their scars, their baggage, their faults, and their fears as well. We have no choice. That’s simply reality and to ignore it and try to pretend otherwise is only dangerous and stupid. We have to accept our heroes, warts and all.

But there’s one exception.

Today as I read my Bible I was reminded that there is One man who takes my breath away every time and He will never prove to be less than what I first thought Him to be. In fact, with each passing day it becomes clearer and clearer to me that He is indeed braver, stronger, more capable, and even more loving than I once thought imaginable.

Just like in the movies, it doesn’t take much to sweep me off my feet. Here’s the lines that took my breath away today: