Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Shot through the heart

Finally rented The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

When the story hit it's final climax, I was devastated and in tears. My crying made my teenage daughter cry, and since we're not mindreaders, I'm not sure what she was thinking, and she probably doesn't know every level of what I was feeling. But I did get up from my seat and cuddle up next to her until the movie was over about ten minutes later. I would not have been able to keep my composure in a crowded movie theatre either.

My daughter is still so young, but I know she identifies with the struggle. I should be devastated to guess she's felt even a fraction of what the characters in the story have. Fitting in at school is her biggest hurdle. The movie's take-away may be that it is everyone's.

When will her anxiety give way to what I keep pushing? The goal is to return to school. How will that happen? She's got some of her own plans. She's so independent that her solution is to circumvent family limitations, the idea of fitting in, everything most everyone else accepts as the norm, and the path all must follow, despite the embarrassment and pain endured. In a very simple way, I am in awe of her genius.