Friday Gangster

RIP -Ray Liotta

During the pandemic, my family and I had a weekly “movie night”. On “movie night”, all six of us (including my eldest son who lives in another state) would watch a movie chosen by one of us (we all took turns picking out the movie of the week to watch) at the same time, and then we would talk about the film afterwards. My middle son chose Goodfellas for us to watch during one of his turns to pick a movie, and I remember thinking, “Why?? Are you serious?!? I’ve already seen that movie like a million times!” And then we watched it, and Goodfellas was, of course, amazing. In fact, in the end, we all ranked all of the movies that we had watched over those several, long months, during those never-ending days of lockdown, and Goodfellas turned out to be our universal favorite out of all of the movies that we had watched together. So today, on Favorite Things Friday here at the blog, I choose Goodfellas as one of my favorite classic movies of all time. Pop some popcorn, sit your bottom down on your couch, and watch Goodfellas once again tonight. You won’t regret it.

Today, we are still at freshman orientation at my daughter’s university which is the same university that her three older brothers attended. We are at our fourth freshman orientation of the same university, within eight years. My takeaway of this particular orientation is that the pandemic has made all of us a little rusty. This version of freshman orientation is a little more subdued, a little less seamless, and a little more jaded. This is the first time that we have had to watch a seven minute video on what to do in the case of an active shooter on campus. Watching this video was horrifying, terrifying and honestly, the most quiet and somber energy which I have ever experienced in a large ballroom, full of people. I believe that we are all trying to get back to a peaceful, comfortable, serene “normal.” It’s going to take some time and some patience and some compassion for us to get there. However, we will get there. We will. Believe it.

“To me being a gangster was better than being president of the United States.” -Henry Hill, Goodfellas

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.