I love origins stories. And I've loved Disney since before I can remember. So it's only natural that I would find a reason to see the latest combination of the two. I have to say, however, in all honesty, I really didn't expect it to...inspire such a reaction from me.
Walking out of the theater this evening after watching Saving Mr. Banks, I felt...light, and warm, and inspired. You remember that feeling when you were a kid; when you would tilt your head back, stretch out your arms, close your eyes, and take a deep breath in? It felt like, if you stayed that way long enough, you would float right up into the clouds and drift along in a heavenly blissful state. It was kind of like that, for lack of a better explanation (and had it not been so bloody cold outside, I may have been tempted to do exactly what I just described).
I have always, always loved Mary Poppins, and watching the story of how it came to be brought back all kinds of fond musings; memories I hadn't thought about in years. I suddenly remembered the first time I ever saw the film...
I was about 4 or 5, maybe even 3, we were visiting Grammy and Granddad in Thedford when Grammy put in a movie for us younger grandchildren to watch before bedtime. I was fascinated from the beginning! Drawings you can step into? Dancing penguins?? Merry-go-round horses that came to life??? It was all so purely fantastic!
After that, I distinctly remember asking my mom if we could watch "the movie with the horses and the dancing penguins" again and again. That Christmas, Grammy & Granddad sent us home with a special gift; our very own copy of Mary Poppins. I would twirl around the living room, singing aloud with every song... "Chim-chiminey, chim-chiminey, chim-chim cha-ree..." "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, the medicine go dooown, medicine go down..." "Step in time, step in time, step in time, step in time, never need a reason, never need a rhyme, step in time, we step in time..."
And of course there was the matter of being able to fly simply by holding onto an umbrella. I really have no idea how many times I jumped off the top of our swing-set, eyes squeezed shut, clutching my "magic" umbrella, just sure that this time, I would open my eyes to find myself sailing above the trees and looking down on the roof of our house. I'm fairly certain we three children ruined several perfectly good umbrellas in this process, especially when the idea occurred to us that all we needed some wind to give us a boost! Luckily, our parents were patient, and our mom was very good at sewing patches onto our clothes.
Driving home tonight, I felt that little-kid-magic again. The full moon lighting up the land, the patchy clouds moving over the night sky, even a car turning down an old dirt road...it was like I stepped through one of Burt's chalk drawings into my own fantasy world. It was like I grabbed ahold of the magic umbrella and was gently sailing over the land, with all the passersby below completely unaware.
Watching Mary Poppins with Grammy is one of my favorite childhood memories, and someday, I hope I get to watch my own children jump off the swing-set with an umbrella in their hands, and I hope I get to cuddle up with my grandchildren and watch their eyes go wide with wonder when they jump through the chalk drawing and the horses leap from the merry-go-round.
So, even though I know no one with any ties to either Walt Disney or P.L. Travers will ever read my little blog entry, I just wanted to express a sincere thank you to both of them for effecting my childhood "in a most delightful waaaaay!"
