I am sad about Patrick Swayze. I’m not devastated, though. I’m not River Phoenix Sad. I never had a huge crush on Patrick, but he was kind of like the big older brother to my childhood crushes.
My friend Bird and I pretty much spent most of third grade watching The Outsiders. It feels like we watched that movie at her house 2-3 times each week during the spring and summer of 1984. Sure, there were other activities in which we engaged: playing "Office" in our favorite tree outside of church, pretending to be Ewoks, swim team. We always came back to those boys; “Pony Boy” in particular. We both had it bad for C. Thomas Howell (we’re talking My Secret Admirer watched 20 times bad). And while “Darry” (Patrick’s Character, just in case you have been living under a rock for almost 30 years) was kind of a hard ass, we knew that he loved those boys, and we loved him as we loved our own older siblings. I’m not C. Thomas Howell Sad, but I’m older-brother-of-the-cute-boy-down-the-street Sad.
Another seminal (for me) Swayze flick is Dirty Dancing. This was the first movie that I pretty much memorized. And while it came out in eighth grade, it was strong enough to provide the foundation (along with Pretty Woman) of my college friendship with Rufus, which is 15 years old and counting. Of course, she and I found other things to solidify our bond, but lines like “. . .or ‘What do the Simple Folk Do’? Or, ‘I Feel Pretty’? What do you think Daddy?” and “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” got us pretty far down the path to lifelong friendship. I even have a pair of Dirty Dancing socks from the resort where the movie was shot. Thanks Rufus!
Oh, Patrick. You are missed, but I will drive down to my local Movie Groove and get me some Dirty Dancing tonight.
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