Some days I just need to hear another adult’s voice. Since there aren’t many around during the day, I opt for turning on an old movie on my small kitchen tv. My usual movie of choice is “McLintock.” It is a 1963 cowboy movie staring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. It is silly and requires no thought to listen to and I quite enjoy it.
Now the point of that background, Ricky calls it my “cowboy movie.” This morning he and Billy were playing in the family room with their Mousetrap game when I turned it on. Only the opening song had begun and I heard him say to Billy, almost with disgust, “Momma’s watching her cowboy movie again!”
I turned it back on (I often only listen to 15 or 20 minutes of it, while I’m fixing a meal or doing dishes) while fixing Billy and Rusty’s lunch. It was at a scene where the cattle ranchers are fighting with the farmers. Billy sat down to watch it and said, “Uh-oh. The cowboys are fighting and playing in the mud!” As the scene went on, he turned to me and said, “Momma, those cowboys need to be nice!” So see, my mindless movie listening does teach morals to my boys. Whew.
Despite his disgust this morning, Ricky does like my cowboy movie. He likes the fight and mud scene, but he also enjoys a scene where a drunken John Wayne tries to go up the stairs and falls down several times. It makes him giggle. And Ricky’s giggle makes me giggle. I think I’ll keep the cowboy movie around a while longer.