S.S. Bees

I went to the movies yesterday. I saw "The Secret Life of Bees," I had no other motivation for seeing it beyond the fact that I knew Alicia Keys was going to be in it. I found myself, about 2/3rds of the way through the movie listening to a symphony of sniffles as the the film reached one of its many climatic emotional moments. The film was playing, and the scene fell silent. I took a moment to look around the theater. Hearing all the sniffles at first made me laugh. I thought, "Man, all of these ladies are crying." The friend that I went with cried enough for me to think I'd have to start treading water soon. I begged her to chill out because I wasn't wearing a life preserver. Her sniffles of runny snot moistening her face from her eyes to her chin continued. I still found myself amused until one moment. I looked a few rows in front of me and saw two women sitting beside each other. They were older women, and they were completely engulfed in the story flickering like the northern lights before them in the darkened room. The sad scene occurred and as I was looking around to snicker at the emotions I was trying myself to contain, I noticed that they were still upset. They were still crying after the scene had ended. They hugged each other and were talking softly, almost as if they were consoling each other. Immediately my heart went out to them. I wondered what could have happened in their past to have made them react as they did. The sad moment was over, the symphony of sniffles had ended, but their tears continued to flow. That is when I felt the lump starting to build in my throat. I desperately wanted to leave my seat and find out what their story was. I will never know why they were so upset, but I guess that they'd experienced a loss of someone they loved, someone who was close to them, someone they looked forward to seeing and someone they missed when they were leaving. I began to think of all the people that I have in my life like that. I'm sure a symphony of sniffles will be the song that I sing soon. God has blessed me to have friends who I've come to love as family. Many of them have aspirations that will take them from San Diego. I will miss them terribly, but will rejoice in knowing that they had the courage to pursue their passions.