Stand firm

The other day my teen daughter and I went to the city to do some shopping.  We finished sooner than we expected so decided on the spur of the moment to go to a movie.  We like the cheap theatre that plays the older movies - especially since it is very rare to get to see any movies in the theatre.   We checked over the list and then chose The Lucky One - a rendition of the Nicholas Sparks novel.

Usually I do not go willy-nilly to the movies without doing some homework first.  No one (especially me) wants to be caught surprised in the theatre - with their child.  So typically a visit to pluggedin.ca is always my first stop.  However, this last minute decision lefts us enough time to drive to the theatre and purchase a ticket before the movie began.  So I used my mommy sense to make the best decision I could.

• It was rated PG-13
• My daughter told me the synopsis from the previews
• We'd watched The Last Song, Dear John, A Walk to Remember together
• Lastly, my daughter is almost 17

Based on those we went in.

If you've already seen this movie you might want to disagree with me or disregard my thoughts.  However, if you haven't yet let me be your WARNING.  This is NOT appropriate  - even for an almost 17 year old.

The story line itself is a beautiful and moving plot.  I probably would have enjoyed the book if I'd read it first.  My warning comes from the sexual content included in the film.  My daughter found it uncomfortable to watch and I found it completely inappropriate for her age.  Yet the movies claims to be alright for 13 year olds.

Now, I know my standards are significantly different than Hollywood's.  I am always a little prepared for that. Yet, this one I could not prepare myself (or my daughter) for.  I can only say my opinion and I found the sexual content more of a 'how-to' than a moving love scene.  I would recommend the scenes not appropriate for anyone not married and even those married who wish to keep a pure mindset.  Way too graphic for PG-13.

You could check out pluggedin's review on The Lucky One here.

So in light of this error in judgement I would like to offer a reminder to stand firm to parents who are trying hard to allow their kids to be in this world but not of it.  Here is a lyric video from Kutless for their song Stand.  I especially love the ending.  Try to last till the end to hear it ... it is beautiful.

Have you had to stand firm for your kids lately?  I would love to hear your stories to encourage me.

Can you help me decide?

I am entering another contest.  This one I join simply because it is fun and challenging.  I have no preconceived notions of winning anything.  All I want is the time away to write.  I participated in it last year and can't wait to do it again.

It is called the 3-Day Novel contest.  And it is simply who can write the best novel in three days.  And yes, there are actually people all around the world that think this is fun.  I am one of them.

Last year I wrote a story about a small town cop who discovers a mysterious woman moving into his town and even into his family. It is a comedy, a love story and a mystery.  Unfortunately on the last day I decided I wouldn't be able to complete the work with all the interwoven subplots in it - due to time.  So I spend three hours on the last afternoon deleting entire sections of the manuscript.  I closed the story off but it was VERY short. Most of my stories come in over 80,000 words.  This one was a dismal 37,000.  But I had fun.

I know where I went wrong though.

I bearly made it - part two

Did you know:

• if you see a bear from more than 100 m (350 ft) you should back away slowly, talk calmly to the bear so he knows you are a human and be sure to have a tree in mind that you could climb in the last second, if necessary.  (What do you do when you meet a bear?)
• you should never look a bear in the eyes
• you should always carry bear spray and a whistle

So, what do you do when you have broken all those rules?

Pray.

In my last post I began the story of when I came face to face with a black bear this summer.  If you missed it, check it our here.  If you read it already, I will give you a little reminder of the story.

On returning to the camp after the beach I knew there