Inconceivable, Part 1

By Emely Varosky

One of the key functions of a husband/boyfriend/male counterpart is the age-old responsibility of opening jars.

Recently, I called upon my husband to do just that. When he handed the newly opened container back to me, I happily burst out, “Thank you, Fezzik!”

He looked at me for a beat, then laughed. “Fezzik, huh?”

“Yes! You’re my Fezzik!”

I’ve made plenty of Star Wars references in this column, but here’s another geeky variant: “Princess Bride.” In that movie, Fezzik is the super strong giant.

In that moment with the open jar, we realized something very important: While the kids have been raised properly with full appreciation of the Star Wars universe, they’ve never seen “Princess Bride.”

Inconceivable.

As responsible, mature adults, we decided this shortcoming in their upbringing should be remedied as soon as possible. (Aside from the obvious cultural-enrichment angle, there was also another reason we wanted them to watch it, but that will be for next week's column...)

As is my custom, though, I was a little concerned. I mean, I like the movie. My husband likes the movie. But would the kids? Would it survive the test of time for the next generation? Would they see the good in it that I saw?

There was only one way to find out.

“'Princess Bride’?” my stepson asked, doubt in his voice, when we broached the idea to them.

“I know, the title sounds girly,” my husband said. “But believe me, it’s really good. It’s got sword fighting, pirates, kidnapping, actually almost all the main characters are guys – I think you’ll like it.”

You could see the wheels in my stepson’s head turning. “OK,” he said, contemplating. “If you say so, I guess I’ll try it!”

First hurdle down. Now on to the main event. To bastardize Inigo Montoya’s quote from the film: “Hello. My name is Geeky Stepmom. You underestimated this movie. Prepare to be amazed. (Hopefully.)”

We started watching it in the afternoon. And about halfway through – the kids started getting antsy. So we shut it off.

They wanted to do other things.

As you wish.

Even though I was a little disappointed, I didn’t mention it again. I figured the only thing worse than them not appreciating the movie, would be forcing them to watch it and then having them actively hate the movie.

Maybe it didn’t cross the generation gap after all.

Then a few hours later, my stepdaughter surprised me. “When can we watch the rest of the movie?” she asked.

“Yeah,” my stepson chimed in. “I want to see how it ends.”

Quite happily, we agreed to watch the second half over dinner.

And we did. And – they loved it.

I know they loved it not only because they said they did, but because they asked to rewatch the sword-fighting scene, after the movie was over. A few weeks later, they asked to watch the entire movie a second time (which never happens – I don’t think I’ve seen the same movie twice with them, ever, aside from Star Wars). And the icing on the cake: My stepson now quotes lines from the film.

The story did hold up to the next generation. They see the good in it that I hoped they’d see.

And there's something more to it than just "The Princess Bride" itself. This is how I hope they’ll see everything about the way We The Adults are raising them.

There will be a few hurdles along the way, some convincing and persuasion required. Not everything will go off without a hitch all the way through, and sometimes everyone involved will need to step back and take a break.

But I hope at the end of the day, we all come back and appreciate the good of what we have as a family. And I hope that good will, like the movie, stand the test of time.

Email Emely Varosky at evarosky@heraldnews.com.