Is the Colonel's underwear a matter of national security?

As a young girl, I spent many weekends and school vacations at my Grandma Roma's trailer home in Provo, UT. Sometimes a sibling, cousin or girl friend would come with me, but often it would be just me and Grandma. We would play games, sew, swim, feed ducks at the park close to her home and watch old classic movies together. If we couldn't decide on a movie to watch from her collection, we'd drive to a local movie rental shop and pick out a flick we had never seen before. This particular rental shop was also a pizza place and my Grandma would let me order the pizza just the way I liked it.. with pineapple and green peppers. One particular weekend, when I was about 13 or 14 years old, I ordered the pizza and Grandma picked out a movie that had just been released-- it was called A Few Good Men. I had never heard of the movie before, but Tom Cruise was in it, so I didn't object. I wasn't until we were half-way into the film that I realized the language was terrible. I looked at the back of the box and saw that it was rated R, and I knew my parents wouldn't approve. I sat through the next hour in conflicted. Should I tell my Grandma that she had picked out a "bad" movie and suggest we watch something else? We had already gotten wrapped into the plot and I wanted to see how it ended, but I felt terrible because I knew I shouldn't be watching it. The last scene was particularly uncomfortable for me because they threw around the F-word a handful of times. I remember looking over at my Grandma as soon as it was over, to see if she was as uncomfortable as I was. I'll never forget her smile as she said, "That was a great movie, wasn't it?" I remember laughing and telling her it was pretty intense. I wondered if she knew that a girl like me wasn't used to listening to such vulgarity, but figured her hearing aids weren't turned up and I let it slide. I think of my Grandma EVERY time I see a clip from that film or hear someone quote the famous line, "You can't handle the truth".

Last night (or rather early this morning at 2 AM) my baby was a fussy little thing. My husband was out of town and I decided instead of trying to fight the fussiness, I would get up, turn on the lights and figure out what was wrong with her. I changed her diaper, gave her a warm bath and tried to nurse her back to sleep. But she wasn't having it. She was WIDE awake. Around 3 AM, I turned on the television in my room and flipped the channels to see what was on. A Few Good Men was just starting on TBS or some other channel that edited each of the swear words into silly phrases that didn't match the lips of the actors. I got sucked in and watched the entire movie, commercial breaks and all. I couldn't help but think about my sweet Grandma and all of the time we spent together. I held my wide-eyed baby girl and during the commercial breaks, I told her all about the incredible woman she was named after. It was one of those full-circle moments. Little Roma is two months old today and I still have to pinch myself when I think about how long I've waited for this little girl to join our family. She is the sweetest, most beautiful little baby and I am so grateful she is mine and that I was able to name her after a woman who means so much to me.

This is Roma on Thanksgiving Day. The darling sweater and hat were made by a new (dear) friend.