When we first moved to Texas, we got
some good advice about the weather. If we didn't like it, just wait a couple of
days. It would change.
That's certainly true of the weather
this week. We started out with blue skies and summer temperatures. By the end
of the week, we'll be back in the 30's with an 80 percent chance of rain.
No wonder we're all sniffling and
sneezing.
Shunning the
Cold
Because I'm a Southerner by choice,
cold weather is a repellent for me, and I hibernate inside until the mercury
rises above 70 degrees.
I've found a lot of ways to keep
myself occupied while waiting for the sun to return – cleaning out closets, rearranging
furniture and, when the arctic blast lasts for more than a week, categorizing
my T-shirts by color.
But working around the house gets
old, so if I know the mercury's on the way down, I head to a Fort Bend County
library for a few classic movies or I search online for some of the best movies
from my childhood.
One of my all-time favorites is
"Some Like It Hot" with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe.
Although Monroe lights up the screen, it's Jack Lemmon who really steals the
show.
I've watched "It's A Wonderful
Life" at least 50 times because I never tire of the story of how Clarence
earns his wings and how George Bailey comes to understand he's really a blessed
man.
My mom gave me a love of the
melodramas from the 1950s and 1960s. I can't count the number of times we sat
through "Imitation of Life" with Lana Turner. We always cried when Annie
dies and her daughter realizes how wonderful her mother had been throughout her
life.
"Madame X" is another
Hebert Girl classic, and I tear up just thinking of the ending scene where Lana
Turner's son comforts her on her death bed, not realizing she's his mother.
Today's teens think actors like
Orlando Bloom and Channing Tatum are the epitome of dashing and debonair. They
don't have a clue that the grand master of cool sexy is Mr. Archibald Leach,
otherwise known as Cary Grant.
He's known for many roles, but my
mom's favorite, and mine, is "An Affair to Remember." I identified
with Meg Ryan and Rosie O'Donnell in "Sleepless in Seattle, which relies
heavily on the Grant movie, because like them, I'd memorized huge passages of
that film. And, yes, winter is cold for those with no warm memories...
Movies that always make me feel
better on those cold rainy days are the old MGM musicals. There's no way a
person can stay miserable when Gene Kelly's dancing and singing in the rain.
Nor can viewers keep from smiling when the Pontipee brothers are singing about
"Sobbin' Women" in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."
My favorite snippet on YouTube is
the opening song from "Fiddler on the Roof" because my family has
watched that movie together so many times, we sing along with every song and
recite the dialog along with Tevye.
Watching movies together is a
tradition that binds the Hebert Nation, just as it did my mom and me so many
years ago when we'd snuggle together on the couch and watch old movies on
rainy, cold Sunday afternoons.
Most of the time, I want the rainy
cold to go away. But when I'm huddled underneath a blanket, watching Cary Grant,
Lana Turner and Jimmy Stewart, there's no place else I'd rather be.
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