It Could Happen

Movies from the 90's

I am unapologetically nostalgic for movies made in the 90's.

So many amazing, hilarious, cheesy, heartwarming, action-packed, but most importantly, ORIGINAL movies came out in the 90’s.

Now I’m no cinema expert by any stretch of the imagination. I have a deep love of movies and consider myself well-versed in movie-lore, of all types and genres (except horror- no thanks). But I would say that I’m your slightly-above-average movie-goer, easy to please, not much of a critic, and more appreciative and open-minded than younger-me was about the world of movie entertainment.

One of the great things about movies is that we all have different reasons and motivations for watching them. Sometimes we just want to be entertained- and that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. 1990’s Jim Carey gotcha covered for that.

Sometimes we are curious about an original and fascinating movie premise. Like a cyborg from the future that comes back in time to protect the leader of the human race when he was a boy, and must defend him against a stronger, more powerful cyborg from the future. Oh and it’s a sequel that’s better than the original? Mr. “I’ll be back” definitely delivered.

Sometimes we need a silly rom-com like a nobody falling in love with a celebrity on Notting Hill, or a woman falling for a man she never meets before he goes into a coma, and then falls in love with his brother while she’s pretending to be coma-man’s fiance. Or a man falling in love with a woman who literally has his dead wife’s heart. Highly improbable, somewhat creepy and morbid, yet endearing and it brings you to tears.

Tragic love story combined with a historical boat disaster? Boom.

Literal face-swapping with a mass terrorist to save the world? Done.

Or maybe, and epically, distorting our perception of reality causing us to question if our very existence is real or just green vertical cascading computer code? Yes please.

I’m telling ya, the 90’s delivered. Over, and over, and over. When in doubt, go the 90’s movie route.

Angels in the Outfield

If you were born in the 80’s, and watched a lot of movies as a kid, chances are that among your home collection of VHS tapes, you probably had a hard plastic copy of “Angels in the Outfield” on your shelf.

I absolutely ADORE this movie. I watched it over and over and over again as a kid. Not because I loved baseball obsessively (I preferred soccer) or because I was a California Angels fan (we never really watched live sports on TV) but just because it’s a wonderful, memorable, heart-warming, silly, funny, and entertaining movie. 

If you’ve never seen it, well… you know I was going to write a quick summary, but any plot summary I write just won’t do it justice. Go watch it. It’s on Disney+ right now.

And I know it’s on Disney+ right now because I just watched it with my boys, ages 10 and 8.

We live walking distance from a fairly nice turf baseball field where for this past summer, we’ve been able to enjoy local baseball games on a regular basis. During the day, when it’s empty, my boys will ride their bikes over with some neighborhood friends or cousins and they will just play for hours. It’s like I’ve time-traveled back to 1995 and they are experiencing my childhood. It makes me very happy. 

As a result, my boys have really gotten into and excited about baseball. We’ve involved them in all kinds of sports over the years, and now it’s just baseball baseball baseball is all they want to go play every day.

You’ve probably had this experience before, where you’re watching a movie that you watched a lot as a kid, and you start to make some realizations. Like “oh, that’s a young Matthew McConaughey!” and “Oh, that’s Tony Danza!” and “Oh, I understand what that word means now!” (harmless swearword). Or you start to quote lines in the movie before they’re said like “Look, it’s nacho butt!” or “It’s God’s thumbnail!” or “Wait, the first word is Jose? The song’s about a Spanish guy! JOSE CAN YOU SEE!”

Quoting movies, especially 90’s movies (and classic Disney movies), is something of a speciality of mine. It comes out in conversation more when I’m with friends and family members (you know who you are) who can relate, laugh, and appreciate a well timed classic movie quote.

It Could Happen!

Well there’s one quote tonight that I knew, and anticipated, but never really much appreciated until now. The youngest boy in the movie, J.P., sweet, innocent, hilarious, and hopeful, says multiple times to his friend Roger and occasionally others, in a confident and faith-filled voice:

“It could happen!”

He says it about the Angels winning the pennant.

He says it about his father and Roger’s mother, who had both passed away when they were little and might be friends now in heaven.

He says it about him maybe getting adopted and going to a nice family.

He says it about his own ability to see real angels during the baseball games.

I’m sure there’s a few other times he said it that I’m not remembering at the moment.

But it’s a great line. It can easily be tossed away as just a naive kid with wishful thinking, but it inspired hope in me tonight as I sat down and watched this movie tonight with my boys.

I think as I get older, the idea of “it could happen” slowly becomes “it’s probably not going to happen” until it eventually settles into “it’s never going to happen.” Unfortunately adulthood brings about a lot of despair. It feels like time has run out on all of the things you wanted to make happen in your life. You get so caught up with work or school or kids or whatever is keeping you busy, that the things you once dreamt about happening, or always wanted to have happen, seem like now they never will.

And it’s a real bummer of a feeling to have. Why do we let our adult brains think this way? Why can’t we be just as hopeful, optimistic, and confident about the things we want in life now as we did when we were kids? Are we constantly feeling like we are treading water in our adult lives because we’ve tied the weights of adulthood and responsibility to our flailing legs and we’ve drowned out the dreams and wishes of our hearts?

Honestly, that’s what I feel like. And I’m tired of feeling this way.

Good News

Here’s the good news. I may be an adult, but I’m lucky to have young children. And being a parent allows me the opportunity to view life through the eyes of my children. Every minute I spend with them is a gentle reminder of the joy, wonder, and optimistic ambition life can bring.

My youngest son has dreams about being a pilot and helping people. My oldest son has goals of achieving in sports and computer science. My middle-school aged daughter thinks she’ll try out for volleyball, and maybe run cross county and track, and currently basks in the joy of musical theater and drama. They can simultaneously live in the present and enjoy every second of of their simple lives, and look to the future and dream about what and who they want to become. They have their entire lives ahead of them.

Wait a minute… So do I.

I’m just a few years ahead of them.

The only difference between me and them is slightly less time and slightly more experience. Neither of those should be an excuse to stop myself from looking forward and doing what I want to do, or being what I want to be.

The good news is that among my despair as an adult, I can look back and be grateful for at least one thing I did right:

Children. They’re more than just reminders or motivators. More than love personified. More than soft hugs and gentle kisses to get us through each grueling day. 

They’re mine. They’re a part of me. Connected to me. Their feelings are my feelings. Their hope is my hope. Their dreams are my dreams. We are one family unit and everything we do effects each other. 

And if they can look at their futures and say to themselves “It could happen!”…

…then so can I.