"The Help."

I just had to write about this. For many reasons. Because I loved the book. Because the movie was just as wonderful. And because of the experience I had last night after seeing it.

I set out last night for a girls movie night that I was excited about. The reason being that I read the 525 page book the movie was made after, about 3 weeks ago. Actually, to go in a bit more detail, I read it in 3 days. 3 days. That's when you know a book is good, at least in my opinion. When you can't wait to pick it up the MINUTE you have any amount of free time. And for a busy mommy that doesn't get much of it, that's saying something.

The theater was packed last night. With mostly women, I'd say pretty much an equal amount of African American and white. The movie, as I expected, was fantastic. I cried several times and laughed as well. The humor was perfectly placed and the actresses fit their roles to a T. At the end, the whole theater clapped, a sure sign it touched the audience's emotions. However, what surprised me the most was my OVERWHELMING desire to hug and apologize to every African American person in the theater as well as apologize for the ignorance of my race. But, of course, I kept this desire to myself thinking I might offend someone and walked out of the theater, my eyes still glistening from tears cried.

As my friend and I were talking on our way out an African American woman looked at us and said, "Are you girls crying?" to which we both replied, "Yes." She then proceeded to come over and hug us which, of course, made us cry even more. She told us the movie was America's history and that it was good that the story was being told. She told us that the fact that President Obama is in the White House is proof of the progress our country had made. And she told us to see us both crying moved her. I responded by telling her that I was so very GLAD it IS history and that I felt the need to apologize for the fact that the movie we had just seen was just a portion of the horrors that actually occurred. She told us it wasn't our fault. She said a lot of other beautiful and wise things and ended the conversation with a hug, again, for both of us. I walked away with the same tears in my eyes that I had left the theater with, but this time with a smile on my face. As I looked around I saw several women hugging and wiping away tears having what I can only imagine was a similar experience to mine.

This has, without a doubt, been one of my favorite movie theater experiences. And if I can convince the CPA (i.e. the Mister) that paying $9.50 to go again is an okay idea, I will most definitely see it a second time. I 100% recommend that you do the same. If you do, leave the eye makeup at home and bring your tissues!