"So Dear to My Heart"

This is a much less-known Disney movie and often overlooked in terms of importance. I understand that a lot of the older Disney movies, especially the ones that were not cartoons like "the Swiss Family Robinson" have been forgotten. Yet, this movie really speaks to me personally.

Those of you that have read my blog post on "Pets" know how very special my dog, Charm was to me. He was my absolute, best friend in high school, which may have been one of the most difficult times in my life. Charm however, was not a favorite of everyone he met. While he loved me, he was not always great with strangers and he definitely didn't play well with other dogs. I can't tell you how many times people told me to get rid of him. Years after my dog had gotten into a small scrap with another friend of the family's dog, the lady said casually to me, "So you did finally get rid of the dog, right?" When I replied, no- that we had found other ways of taking care of the problem, she said, "Well you should have, that dog was a nuisance!" There are few times I have been angrier and had to be quiet at the same time, in my entire life. I loved that dog, maybe more than any person in the world at that point. Taking that dog away would have been terrible for me, but some people only care about their stupid, quiet, clean, boring lives to deal with anything that's different or requires an open mind.

"So Dear to My Heart" is about a boy named Jeremiah Kincaid who dreams of owning a champion race horse until one day when the lambs are born in his grandmother's barn. He meets Danny, a small and unfortunately, black lamb. Danny's mother rejects him because of his color and Jeremiah's heart swells with pity and compassion for the little sheep. Although his grandmother immediately tells him that black sheep are a nuisance and useless because black wool is undesirable, Jeremiah takes the lamb in as a pet. Trading in his dream to own a championship horse, Jeremiah decides to prove to everyone who laughed at Danny that his lamb is worth something by planning to take the lamb to the county fair. If the lamb can win a blue ribbon and cash prize, he'll be the talk of the town! But Danny proves to be a difficult pet to have. He is strong and bull-headed, constantly causes damage to everything he comes across and is an escape artist to boot. Jeremiah never gives up on the lamb. He fixes everything the lamb breaks, searches through the dangerous swamps for wild honey to fund his county fair trip, and stays out in the woods for hours after the lamb runs away one night while its pouring rain. His grandmother tries time and time again to get rid of the lamb but she just can't do it. Jeremiah loves the lamb so much, that one night after a particularly bad incident, she finds him asleep in the barn with his arm around the lamb. 

The lamb means everything to the boy. In the end, Jeremiah takes the lamb to the fair and although the lamb does not win the blue ribbon, he wins a special award for merit and as the judge calls it, "real spirit." Jeremiah believes this event changed him for the rest of his life and I believe Charm changed mine too. 

This movie is one of the first I've seen that shows that animals, as well as people can have a good deal of unfair prejudice against them, but it does NOT mean that they do not have worth. Charm would never hurt an innocent person. He was great with babies and incredibly patient, yet people avoided him on the sidewalk because he was a pitbull. People told Jeremiah over and over that his lamb was an ugly, obnoxious, nuisance, and a waste of time, but Jeremiah saw the beauty in the small, unfortunate little sheep and loved him for who he was. In return, I imagine that this experience with Danny helped Jeremiah to grow up to become a very kind and determined young man. This story teaches us to never give up on the ones we love and to follow our dreams no matter how bad things seem. "True love is good for the soul" Granny tells Jeremiah and it doesn't matter that the thing he loved was a sheep. This movie makes me believe in a higher power because it touches my soul and reminds me that I am not alone in my belief that simply because a creature is less intelligent then a person, does not mean that it does not have worth. And this makes me feel stronger.

The movie may not be popular, but just as Danny was unpopular and loved never the less by Jeremiah, this movie will always be special to me. It will always be, "So Dear to My Heart."

Bikers Baby!

And no, I don't mean the guys with leather that have a motor under the hood, although I'm sure those motorcyclers are nice too. Here are some pictures for clarification:

Cool Bike

"Cool" Bike

I mean the people who wear the dorky, hardcore spandex and the plastic buckle helmets.

Like these Guys...note the packages...

 As someone who has been an athlete most of her life, I don't know how these people do it. Just watching the bicyclists on the Olympics or even just the students on the UCSD bike club makes me uncomfortable. First of all, I have a latex sensitivity so I would itch like mad, plus my body type doesn't really lend itself to a one-piece tight suit. But seriously, these guys have to be on their bikes ALL DAMN DAY to really get good at it. I could barely make it to school from just a couple of blocks away (damn you VA Hospital Hill)! I've never had the endurance to be a biker and the few times that I tried to make it a routine failed badly. I simply couldn't get better fast enough to stick with it. Yet these Olympic athletes will bike ALL DAY (yes, I said it again because it's ridiculous). It's probably one of the few Olympic sports were the athlete's event literally takes HOURS. You have to leave and come back later to find out the results!

My Mother and Stepfather trained all last year and then did an across-the-country bike trip from Spring-Summer this year. It took an amazing amount of planning and training. I can't believe they could really do something like that, but they made it! Biked the whole way! The sore muscles! My God, I can only image! It's no wonder that bikers have the lean muscle and trim bodies that they do! Hats or rather, helmets off to my Mom and Step-Dad! (To read more about their adventure, click here: http://wolfesride.blogspot.com/)

It's no small feat that human possess the mental fortitude to keep going and the muscle power to keep pedaling that far! I image that while we can do so much on our own, we must get some help from an outside power. A power to push through the pain and transform our bodies into serious machines. Bad-ass bikers make me believe in a greater, stronger power!

Beginnings

Change was never easy for me. As a child (and sometimes still as an adult) my mother called me a worry-wart. Every time I moved up a grade or had to take a test, I would bite my nails and sweat it out. Mom was always telling me to relax. She once got me these little "worry people" made of wood that live in a little, tiny bag under your pillow to help take away some of the fear. It was really just a cute gesture, but I still have them under my pillow.

This last week was all about new things and starting over for me. Not all of it was by choice- my good friend and apartment mate of two years graduated and moved away. I was sad to see him go and nervous to find new people to live with, but I did. My new apartment mates are good people too and I'm sure that in no time I'll be settled in.

I also got a new job! I'm in the same location, working with the same people that I like, but now I have permanent status and benefits! That means this year when I play rugby, I won't have to be so concerned about how to pay for health insurance (or when I get sick)! It means a pay increase and added responsibilities. I had to interview with the CEO, which was terrifying for me. The man has worked on the same, small floor with me for a year and never said a word to me so I was intimidated. I could barely sleep the two nights before the interview. But as my good friend and coach told me, "He's just a person" and he really was "just a person." In fact, he was pretty easy to talk to!

It's a new year and a new rugby season as well. Not only will I have health benefits and a pay increase to help me pay my dues, but I will have a changed body. I am still one of the slower girls on the team, but I have improved from last year and my attitude is stronger, which is very important! This year, I want to have fun! And stop comparing myself so much to others. I play rugby because I think it's the most fun sport I could possibly play and because I believe it's healthy for me, so why waste my time worry about how everyone else is doing?

I believe that all the new things, people, places in life are very important for you to experience if you are to grow. We cannot change and evolve ourselves if everything is static. It was easier to believe once I just stopped freaking out so much. I'm sure I'll always be nervous about new experiences, who wouldn't be? I've come to realize that by allowing it to scare you, it then rules your entire experience, and it was never worth being so stressed out about so really you just wasted your time. Looking at it positively can save you a lot of heartache, and I'm fairly certain that on both a mental and even physical level, it's much healthier for you. It was a lesson that took me a very long time to learn and I may never fully realize it. However, I do believe in the power of a positive mind and that change is a gift. I trust that whatever life throws at me is necessary, whether or not it makes me happy initially. I believe that positivity and new beginnings were a gift left to us by the creator, otherwise life would be static and boring. We just have to decide to use the gifts left to us and believe that we have it within ourselves to adapt. Believe you have the power!

New Beginnings make me believe that maybe I can do this just a little bit longer! That there is more to life then I have seen - better things! Better things that I WILL see!

"Spears shall be shaken! Shields Shall be splintered! A sword day! A red day! THEN THE SUN RISES!" -Aragorn, The Return of the King