I stumbled onto a writing prompt that said, “Write about something you love that you are actually kind of embarrassed about.  Explain why you love it so much.”  I laughed out loud.  Since I am pretty much shameless, even my wife could answer this one for me.  Here goes:  I love the movie Stick-It.

The main character is recovering from her parents’ divorce, acting out, and eventually gets arrested for a BMX stunt gone wrong.  As punishment, her father and the court sends her to a gymnastics academy in Houston where she is forced to return to a gymnastics career that she had recently abandoned.  I was enjoying the film’s witty dialogue and fun characters, but I fell in love with it near the end when the main character is about to do her floor routine.  She has a short in-her-head monologue before her performance:

“There are things you wish for before big moments.  I wish my friends were here.  I wish my parents were different. I wish there was someone who got what was happening and could just look at me and tell me we weren’t crazy, that we weren’t being stupid.  Someone to say ‘I’m proud of you… and I got your back no matter what.’”

After this, her coach interrupts her before she begins the routine and tells her that he is so proud to be her coach.  I tear up almost every time I watch it.  Sorry, can’t help it.  Because I know that is what we all want, someone to tell us how proud they are, regardless of our mistakes, that they’re proud to be a part of our lives and they have our backs, no matter what.

There is another really great scene that I will post here.  This is an amazing part because it reminds me that kids like Haley, although rebellious on the surface, are always doing what’s right for others.  The greatest part is that her rebellion catches on.  As a teacher, I am careful to label my students who appear “bad”.  I honestly believe that a girl like Haley would make a great leader.