Last night, we watched the HBO movie Taking Chance. My husband said, “I’ve heard it’s sad. Grab the tissues.” And… for seventy-seven minutes, I cried.

It tells the story of a marine escort as he accompanied the body of PFC Chance Phelps home for burial.

I had previously heard Chance’s name through a blogger friend who was raising funds to participate in one of the Run4Chance events. But while I was aware of his name, I was only aware of his name.

The movie shows the reverence and respect shown to our troops from loading them onto the plane in Ramstein, to cleaning them, their possessions, their uniforms in Dover, and then as they are transported to their homes.

As I watched, and sobbed, I was reminded of Bill and Heather. Perhaps that is why I cried so much during the entire movie; I hope Bill was treated with as much respect and honor.

I hope I am not out of line in sharing this information with you, and I certainly don’t mean to overstep any boundaries here, but I know youse guys love our troops and are thankful for their sacrifice for our freedom. When I saw Michele last month, we talked a bit about Bill. Michele told me that the reason Bill’s grave had no grass growing on it when we visited Arlington back in August was because more of his remains had been recovered in Afghanistan. Bill was exhumed, and re-buried with the rest of his body.

That hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. I cannot fathom what poor Heather has endured over the loss of her fiance.

I found it encouraging (that’s not exactly the right word) to see the care and reverence with which the body of Chance was treated in this movie. And since the movie is based on a true story, and since I want to believe the best in people, I have to believe this is how we treat all our heroic deceased. And believing that Bill received the same care, well, it makes me cry, but for a different reason than sorrow.

After enduring the movie — because I cannot say I enjoyed this movie — I told my husband I want to buy this movie, but I never want to watch it again. It was horrible to sit through, so much sorrow. But it was well worth watching. I commend hollyweird for making a movie like this. I think it should be required viewing for middle and high school students. I think you should buy it, or add it to your netflix cue. It’s not an easy 77 minutes, but it’s worthwhile. I’m going to buy it because I want my money to reinforce the idea that it’s good to make movies that are not hating on our great country.

I will watch this movie one more time because sherlock wants RTY to watch it with us. I think it will be good for her to see it. Just like I think it was important to take her to Arlington.

And, as my husband said last night, it’s appalling that hollywood supports that POS rapist Polanski but vilifies our troops. It’s nice to see a movie honoring a real hero.

wRitErsbLock