I am really honored that Gwen Bristol recently nominated me for the ‘WordPress Family Award.’  I have been trying for days to complete that post, but because I am a techno-idiot, I have run into a few problems with links.  Gwen’s blog is awesome with lots of good writing advice as well as reflections on life, and I promise it is well worth your time to pay her a visit if you haven’t already.  That said, I feel like I need to make other posts as I work on that one, getting more visibility for the links I recommend.

I am starting a new category of posts called ‘Little Movies I Love.’ These are movies that I love to watch over and over, and when I talk about them, no one else has heard of them.  I thought I would share a few of my favorites that other people might enjoy checking out.  First up: Waitress

Waitress is a great movie on so many levels.  Keri Russell is Jenna, the ‘waitress’ living in small town Mississippi and working at a local diner owned by curmudgeon  Andy Griffith and famous for the pies that she bakes.  She finds out that she is pregnant just as she is about to launch a plan to win a pie contest and escape from her abusive husband.  In spite of loving encouragement from the other waitresses, she is dejected, defeated and depressed.  Enter a new, young, handsome doctor, Dr. Parmatter (Nathan Fillion), who has taken over her doctor’s practice. Their attraction is immediate and hilariously passionate.  They begin an affair that lasts throughout her pregnancy.

Check out the supporting cast of eccentric characters.  They are crazy, southern and absolutely fun.

I generally have a problem with movies in which the romantic leads are both cheating in their marriages, but Jenna’s husband is so awful and Dr. Parmatter is so sweet and kind that their romance is irresistible. The letter she writes (narrates) to the baby apologizing for not being excited about being pregnant and not being a good role model is so self-depreciating that you have to root for her.  At the end, she finds what all of us who are parents have discovered: the love for a child is visceral and undeniable from the moment you hold that baby in your arms.