This isn't supposed to be happening

Since this afternoon, I have battling something that seems distressingly like menstrual cramps. Which is impossible, since I'm in menopause. The feeling is familiar but by no means welcome and I hope it goes way ... soon.

Movie Monday -- Victory

Share on your blog movies focusing on champions, victories and winners and link back here at The Bumbles.

The first one that comes to mind is The Natural. (Maybe because of the Roy Hobbs baseball card tacked to my bulletin board.) A young man of enormous promise gets on a train, off to the majors, with dreams of proving to the world that he's the best. Tragedy strikes and his dream is deferred. He returns to the game as a very old rookie and energizes his teammates, reminding them of how they loved the game when they were kids. To make a long story short, he leads them to the championship against very long odds.

It's a movie about baseball, and much more. It's a fable about what goes wrong in life, and what goes right, and what we can control and what we can't. It's about the impact of the past on the present.

"We have two lives. The life we learn with and the one we live with after that."

"You've got a gift, but that's not enough. You've got to develop yourself, too. If you rely too much only on your gift, you'll fail."

The ballparks are beautiful. The period costumes are beautiful. Redford is beautiful. The score is beautiful. If you haven't seen this elegiacal film, rent it!

Damn, I miss baseball.