Tag: Cinderella

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Emotion vs feeling things deeply

I got so caught up in finding the perfect version of the song for yesterday’s blog that I didn’t complete my thought about feeling unexpectedly emotional throughout the day.

But as I think back on it, I find myself pondering the distinction between being emotional and feeling something deeply. And I think I was experiencing the latter.

It seems likely that the song started things off by opening my heart extra-wide from the moment I woke up.

Later I was reading my book — a light romantic novel — but the plot involved the anguish of a doctor who had lost his wife and unborn child. And somehow the grief of my 1995 stillbirth was suddenly right there…almost at the surface, making me feel it deeply once again.

There were a few similar instances during the day, but finally, it was time for our regular Friday date night. We decided to watch the 2015 version of Cinderella, which we hadn’t seen since shortly after it came out.

Oh. My. Goodness.

It’s so beautiful and SO well done. Especially the way the entire story is oriented around the profoundly deep message: “Have courage and be kind.”

I found myself in tears over and over again, because so many of the characters really had…character! On display were qualities like goodness, sweetness, honesty, compassion, playfulness, and so much more.

I think my heart really felt it because — deep inside — my soul knows that a world based on such beautiful qualities is the true reality that we all aspire to…whether we know it or not.

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Celebrating love

It’s been a lovely Valentine’s Day.

We started the day off feeling deeply inspired by Anandi’s Sunday service talk on Divine Love. Then we celebrated with French toast for lunch, followed by opening our Valentine’s cards and simply chatting for a while.

It was the sort of cold and gloomy day that’s perfect for getting cozy with a movie, so in the afternoon we watched the 1997 Cinderella featuring Whitney Houston and a whole slew of other great movie actors. I had barely heard of it before a few days ago, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

However, it got me thinking about another version of the same musical, so…! With the patient indulgence of my wonderful husband (and after a delicious tortellini and broccoli dinner) we watched Cinderella again — this time the 1957 live television version with a very young Julie Andrews.

It was an altogether enjoyable, relaxing, and love-filled day. 💝

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Vitamin M

I didn’t feel all that great through most of today. Tired, plus a setback with some pain in my shoulder. What helped? Listening to more Rodgers and Hammerstein!

In addition to buying the soundtrack of Cinderella (and singing along with Julie!), I revisited gorgeous melodies from Oklahoma, The King and I, and State Fair. And they made me feel better. Seriously better! I feel like we should assign a nutritional value to beautiful melodies, for they truly do provide nourishment.

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Well, this was fun!

I grew up on musicals, many of which were by Rodgers and Hammerstein. I sang along to the soundtrack recordings of The King and I, South Pacific, and Oklahoma. I didn’t know Flower Drum Song, Carousel, or State Fair quite as well (meaning I didn’t have every single melody, lyric, and inflection memorized!😂), but between piano sheet music, concert band arrangements, orchestra pops concerts, and catching the occasional television broadcast, I was pretty familiar with those as well.

But I missed out on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella completely! True, I had the vaguest of memories of seeing something on television — once — when I was a little girl, but it wasn’t until many years later that I found it once again on the internet (that was the 1965 version starring Lesley Ann Warren).

What a revelation! I realized that hints of the songs had lingered in my awareness, even after only one viewing, and it was so wonderful to finally know what they were and where they came from.

Well…imagine my surprise when, just this past year, I stumbled across a DVD of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella…with Julie Andrews in the starring role! I just watched it for the second time tonight and now I’m looking forward to the treat of getting to know all these songs really well.

Having the voice and gracious beauty of Julie Andrews combined with the sublime melodies, witty lyrics, and emotional depth of Rodgers and Hammerstein definitely takes me to a very, very happy place deep inside.

Oh, and let’s not forget the humor; love this!🤣

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Disney magic

So I had an interesting topic in mind for today’s blog (interesting to me, at least), which required a bit of research. Namely, reviewing a song from the animated Disney classic, Sleeping Beauty.

Of course, before I knew it, a song from Sleeping Beauty turned into three songs from Cinderella and one from Beauty and the Beast. Ha ha!

Now it’s too late to write the original blog post, which will have to wait until tomorrow. At least I’ll be going to sleep with a smile on my face. 🙂