The Sound of Music

2010 is the 45th Anniversary of the movie The Sound of Music. And like so many people, the Rogers and Hammerstein classic had a profound effect on me as a child. When I came home from the movie I tried to sing every song, I danced around the house, I ran back and forth across the front lawn like I was running through the hills. Back in the day, movies didn't come out on DVD, but good movies, big movies, returned to town every year. And every year for my birthday my mother took me to see the movie again. I didn't wish for a perfect singing nun of a mother – I already had one . . . minus the nun part, well, and, minus the singing part. I didn't wish for an unruly bunch of siblings – I had that too. It was as if I had a sense of believing in something and going for it, in making dreams come true. Sometimes it takes movies and books to remind us of that.

That is what I love the most about movies and books - the way they can show our best selves triumphing over adversity, or sometimes triumphing over our own worst selves. I love the idea that we can triumph, that we aren't stuck. That's why I love most any hero's journey. And The Sound of Music is definitely that.

If you've seen The Sound of Music, what is your favorite scene? And/or, what movie affected you the most when you were growing up?