Sosuke's Mom
Ok so we took the kids to see Ponyo yesterday. This is Disney’s new movie about a little boy (Sosuke) who meets a goldfish who turns into a girl (Ponyo)…if that sounds strange you’ll just have to see it to understand! It was definitely different but not in a bad way. I enjoyed the cleverness of it and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. It was like the parts I thought were really strange just blew past them and the rest of it really reeled them in! Throughout the movie I couldn’t help but focus on Sosuke’s mom. She seemed like a very loving mom but a couple of times I watched the things she was doing and was a little , well, concerned. 
First she drived like a complete maniac everytime she’s in the car (especially in a climactic scene where she actually times crossing a bridge to out run a giant wave…WITH HER 5 YEAR OLD IN THE CAR!!! I know, it was just for the movie… but still!). Now the every day driving part I guess I can over look. As moms we understand the normal I’m-late-driving because, well, I’m late …a lot! I pretend like it’s because I have to get my kids ready but well, really, I was late before they got here. I gotta’ do better on that. Ok so second, the mom is at home making what looks like a delicious supper because the dad is coming home from work (it seems like he’s been gone a while because he’s a ship’s captain). So he calls and Sosuke answers the phone and the dad says he’s not going to make it because he’s taken another job to go back out to sea. Sosuke is fine with all this but…the kid makes his dad tell the mom himself! Clever kid! Sosuke knows Dad’s in trouble. So the mom gets a bit upset and kinda’ screams at the dad and slams the phone down…then she tries to drink a beer and it explodes, so no beer for her. Then the dad tries to signal them from the ship and she won’t answer him…when she finally does get off the floor where she’s pouting, it’s to tell him to “bug off” via the light using morse code. Then Sosuke relays the dad’s message back to her ”Dad says he’s sorry and loves you lots and lots.” But she still doesn’t respond cause she’s mad and soon enough the dad’s out of sight. Besides the fact that I could totally relate to being mad (and not giving in) and the mom being totally put out with the dad when he wasn’t home when he said he would be even though she’d cooked dinner and EVERYTHING…ok, breathe…I could really relate to the next scene where Sosuke came and touched her hair. She unrolled herself from the upside-down-feeling-sorry-for-herself-ball she’s been in on the bed and said to Sosuke “ok I’m happy now.” It was almost too real. It seemed like almost too good of a real life example. She continued on to have a delightful evening with her son. So I watched this mom throughout the movie and thought about the things that were just a little to close to home. The mom’s mood was a direct reflection of the situation she was in but for her son, she was willing to make the best of it. Good mom. Towards the end of the movie the mom leaves the 5 year old alone while she goes to try and help a bunch of old ladies at the senior center during the awful tsunami-like storm. I was just mad about this! No mom would do that! I even leaned over to Sarah and said “Mommy would never leave you like that ok?” She looked at me like I was nuts and said “I know mommy. Shh.” Ok I know it was part of the movie, but still!!!
As we walked out of the movie I made a comment about the mom…something like “Geez, that mom! She drove awful, she tried to drink in front of her kids, she yelled at the dad, and she left the 5 year old alone with a girl who just change from a fish to a 5 year old!” And Scott looked over at me and said “I was thinking the whole movie how she reminded me of you!”
What did you say????
Me???
How could you…
As I absorbed this comment, I realized… he was right. Then Scott’s next comment was, “You wouldn’t leave your 5 year old, that was just part of the movie, but I thought she was a good mom.”
In my defense…I wouldn’t out run a giant wave either!
