funny

One of my favorite movie lines is an obscure quote from the movie Tombstone which starred Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.  The movie is a loose, and I mean LOOOOOOSE interpretation for Wyatt Earp's escapades in death and destruction in Tombstone, AZ.  There's a point where Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) is dying of tuberculosis and Wyatt (Kurt Russell) visits him.  Wyatt gives Doc some sort of certificate that states that Doc and Wyatt are friends, which is significant because Doc didn't really have any friends.  As Wyatt leaves Doc for the last time, Doc looks at his feet and before he dies he says, 'This is funny."  

It's such a weird scene, why is that in there, why is that funny?  What's even more 'funny' is that today I learned that one of the girls who used to babysit me when I was little passed away....2 years ago!  Yes, she passed away 2 years ago!  And even better, I haven't seen her for probably 16 years.  I don't know why this struck me, maybe because she was the one who introduced me to U2 when the Joshua Tree first came out.  Maybe because the memories of her and me and listening to U2 represented something.  Like the day she picked me, my brother, and her brother up from the movies after we saw Space Balls, that was the time we tried to construct our own towers of Babel from straws, and we drove home, listening to U2.  

Maybe it's just that I've hit a certain point in life, that I want what matters to really matter. Maybe how if I had it all to do over again, I'd still listen to U2 and I definitely would have seen Space Balls, but maybe I'd have spent more time getting ready for the things that do matter.  Enjoying the things that are gone, that I had no idea would leave at that point.  So I guess the question is, are we participating in the things that matter?  Are we giving God the chance to blow our minds?  Are we thinking, wow, the now will be gone and who knows how long those who are close to us have left.  

Thanks Lela, for introducing me to U2, you were right, they are 'cool.'