GOODBYE MR. HUGHES

Writer-Director John Hughes died yesterday. While I did not know Mr. Hughes on a personal level, one might say I was a fan of his work, and I was saddened to hear the news. You would only have to view my favorite movies list to find that Mr. Hughes had a large part in it.

There are many good and talented people whom I should be writing about and who's loss should be mourned as well; philanthropists, missionaries, volunteers, soldiers, fathers who took the time to raise their children with morals, mothers who remained patient in spite of repeated third degree interrogations by querulous children...........but Mr. Hughes' use of humor captured and held my attention a long time ago and is (in my humble opinion) without rival.

Mr. Hughes used humor to turn the mundane and difficult aspects of LIFE into something laughable. Let's face it folks, life IS hard, and without humor, it would be a bleak desolate state. Humor has the ability to heal, remind, and release. It is one of the many reasons I married my husband. Humor reminds me of my father, generally a reserved and conservative man, who occasionally enjoyed the quirkiness of Mr. Hughes' movies. I can almost see him chuckling in his recliner as he watched National Lampoons or Uncle Buck. One of Mr. Hughes' movies even made it into a "family tradition"...Each Christmas, my Mama and I would dutifully dust off a worn video cassette of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and watch it while decorating and baking. While our family dynamics were not as outrageous as The Griswold's, their heartfelt rendering of holiday woes and triumph coupled with downright hilarity made us laugh anew each year. Their family felt like a part of ours.

I was particularly drawn to Mr. Hughes "teen" comedies as I grew up in the 80's. His ability to comprehend the arduous (and obnoxious I'm told) passage of teen-angst and then subtly transform it into an intimate and UNDERSTANDABLE piece of work was unmatched by any writer-director since.

His other comedies were no small feats either. His aptitude to warrant a true "belly-laugh" was magical, a GIFT without doubt. The portrayal of his characters, some repulsive and seemingly without merit, would end up with a small redeeming quality of endearment, much like real life. Sometimes you have to search for a person's goodness and most of the time, you'll find it.

I hope you will find some humor in this day in honor of a talented man who not only "entertained" us but perhaps helped people heal, remember, and endure through laughter.

So what was your favorite John Hughes movie?