It's okay, honey. I was just talking to the cornfield.

Field Of Dreams is one of my favorite movies...ever. If it's on television...I'll watch it, even if it's being shown with commercials. And I own the DVD so it's not like I have to try and catch it. I just can't look away!

Last night at 2am, I'm flipping through the channels and there it is...right at the scene where Burt Lancaster steps off the field and leaves "Moonlight" behind.

He's just Doc now. But it's okay. He did what he came to do. "Hey Rookie"...Shoeless Joe Jackson calls to him..."You were good." Tears well up.

I watch as Terrence goes into the corn...laughing with anticipation. What's in there? Will he find what he's looking for? Is he dead? I sniffle and pretend I won't cry.

And then...Ray sees one last ballplayer...the catcher, who has gone un-noticed, removes his mask and turns. "Oh my God" Rays says. And I'm bawling before he even has the chance to say "It's my father."

But, it's Ray's father when he was 22 or so.  Before Ray was even a thought in his mind.  "I'm John Kinsella" he says.  "I'm Ray and this is my wife and my daughter."  "Is this heaven?" John asks.  "I don't know" says Ray.

 As John walks toward the corn, Ray calls to him. "Dad" Do you wanna have a catch?"  

  

A stream of car lights are seen approaching the house....coming for miles down the road as Ray plays catch with his father.  His wife watches from the house and smiles.   It looks like heaven to me.


The casting surely goes a long way in making the film work. James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Ray Liotta are pretty inspired. 

Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan are just perfection. I wish Hollywood would learn something from this pairing. What if they had cast a woman for her beautiful face? (Or should I say, model face...because I think Madigan is beautiful. ) So often we see women as just the beautiful face...the beautiful sidekick. Whatever. Today the studio would demand it I think. But Amy Madigan gave us a full bodied, hot blooded human being in Annie Kinsella. One who loved her family fiercely, and was an equal partner with Ray. Always keeping her sense of humor..."What, they want you to build a football field now?" She was the wife and mate that everyone wishes they had, and everyone wishes they were.

But...what does all this mean and why does the film speak to so many in such a profound way. Truthfully....it beats the hell out of me. I really don't know. The fact that the film even got made mystifies me. It's so weird, right? But I do know one thing. The idea of playing a simple game of catch with your father, or your mother for that matter. The opportunity to have 30 minutes of time with your parents in their prime, with everything you know now, as an adult.  Who wouldn't jump at the chance?

Why catch? Why not baking cookies or something? I'm not sure I get that either...but I'm a woman, and I want to play catch too.  Just throwing the ball back and forth.  There's no thinking really. It's such a pure, physical, mindless act. I dunno, it's just the experience of being I guess. The Zen of playing catch.

And don't we all have the longing for something in the past...or the longing to change or experience something we missed or screwed up...like Archie or Terrence?  Wouldn't we all like the chance to take the other road, just to see where it went, so we can be free to move forward and enjoy the experience of the road we're on?  Or maybe, maybe it is just the longing to have a baseball field in your backyard. I dunno...

"People will come Ray, people will most definitely come."