[2024-09-02] Finding family
I did something tonight that I haven't done in several years: I watched a movie. Not since the time of my treatments for ovarian cancer, when I spent many a day curled up on the couch, did I take a couple of hours to consume an entire film.
Today's movie was The Holdovers. I had ordered it from the Ottawa Public Library many months ago, and when it finally arrived this week, I was determined to watch it.
Part way through viewing the film, I considered pausing it so that I could turn my attention to writing a post. But I got caught up in the stories of the characters and was compelled to finish it.
Set in a New England boarding school in December 1970, The Holdovers is essentially the story of three people:
- Paul Hunham (played by Paul Giamatti), a classics teacher at Barton Academy,
- Angus Tully (played by Dominic Sessa), a student who is forced to spend the Christmas holidays at Barton when his mom changes the family's vacation plans, and
- Mary Lamb (played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph), the cafeteria manager, who is mourning the death of her son in the Vietnam War.
Over the course of the Christmas holidays, the three characters come to understand how the history of each of them has influenced their present, and they demonstrate genuine caring for one another.
What I took from the movie is that friends, colleagues and acquaintances can become like family. They can make others better versions of themselves, they can help others realize their potential, and they can show love to others that is equal to, or even greater than, the love of family members.
As traditional families get smaller and more geographically dispersed, I believe that we will increasingly find "family" in people all around us. Family can be more than the people we are related to and grew up with. Family can be anyone who loves and supports us.
