She also has her hands full. We don't get to spend much "quality time" together and we might talk on the phone once a month...if that. She's busy. I'm busy. But... there are a few things...those things she instilled into my heart... that will take priority over everything else.
Gone with the the Wind is one of those things.
I remember my mom taking me across town to Quaker Village to see the movie. I might have been 8 or 9 but even at that age, I tumbled for Clark Gable when he was standing at the foot of the stairs grinning up (at me...he was looking at me, right). If you look back at the great loves of my life, you will see a line of black-haired men with blue eyes. It's a short line but there's a definite trend.
So, when I saw that the NC Museum of History had a Gone with the Wind exhibit, it did not take much to get my mom in the car and make the day trip.
If you get the chance, go. It's a wonderful exhibit. The man that owns the exhibit was there Saturday giving a tour. He was head of the make-up department at Universal Studios at one time. Back in the early 60's he was walking through one of the studios and saw a pile of clothes laying on the floor and when he asked about it, he was told it was bound for the garbage. He asked if he could buy it and they said sure. So he bought the pile for $20. There were several costumes from different movies but one was the riding dress, Vivian Leigh wore in the Shantytown scene. He's been collecting ever since.
It was fascinating to see the costumes and storyboards and props.
My mom thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jim Tumblin, the collector, tell stories about working at Universal Studios, the people he met, and the trivia he's collected along with the artifacts.
It was perfection.
And then...mom wanted to drive through NC State's campus. It's a very nostalgic place for us. I went to State for eight years. My dad went to State and she worked on campus after they married his junior year. Parts have changed a lot. We would always stop at the Student Book Store on the rare occasions that we would come back to campus. This time we found that they tore down the book store and are expanding the Student Center. It was kind of sad.
But.. as we turned around at Reynolds Coliseum, my mom said she had never been to a basketball game there. She had never been past the lobby. I just looked a her...my mother...who loves Jim Valvano more than I do (which is saying something) had never been inside his castle.
That had to change.
I noticed one of the front doors of the coliseum was ajar. So I parked the car and we walked in. The line of red doors leading to the basketball court were all labeled "do not enter. court on;y open for special events"...and they had no handles on therm. I tried but could get one open...so we walked down the hall to the next set of doors. One of them had a handle...so I started to slowly open it...hoping I wasn't about to sound an alarm.
Suddenly the door right next to it opened and one of the State basketball players stepped out. (The only reason I knew he was a basketball player was because he had on a practice uniform and was a foot taller than me.)
Scared me and my mama to death!
I said "hey!"
He grinned and said "hey!"
I said "we just wanted to look around".
He opened the door further and said "knock yourself out!"
So we did.
My mama got to stand at center court in Jimmy V's house.
Could the day have been any more perfect?
Only if we could have seen Elvis.
