I have always been a fan of the sweet lil indie film. These movies tend to be a tad shorter than most and use all the time they have to the fullest to make it the best one and a half hour the viewer can spend. This is the case with Jeff, Who Lives at Home. This is a movie that has a lot happening, but seems to move both slow and fast at the same time. This move worked well for me because I have always been a big believer in signs, intuition and the "everything happens for a reason" philosophy. This movie opens with Jeff, played expertly by Jason Segal, explaining the plot of the movie Signs and describing its significance and how many times he's seen it. The simple character breakdown of the movie is too easy: Jeff is the stoner loser who never wants to grow up. Pat, played by Ed Helms, is the angry middle manager type who's trying to be too big for his britches. Sharon, their mom played by Susan Sarandon, is the older irritated widowed mother. And they all pretty much do and say exactly what you think they'd do. Or do they? Do they become and reach for exactly what you hope for by the end? This is a great movie to watch when you want to unwind and not think too much, but it also seems to give you a lot to think about. How does loneliness look to each person? What would happen if you just took a different road this morning? And what would happen if you changed your life entirely? Once in my life, I took a very big and scary leap that no one saw coming......not even me. And it changed my life in ways I couldn't have imagined. I know now how valuable those leaps are.....and how valuable signs can be. Maybe that's why I love this movie so much!
This story might take a minute to tell. Bear with me. When my sister and I were little girls, my mother took us to a large baptist church in town. Even as a child, I never remember feeling welcome there. But I do remember the lovely older couple that kept my Sunday School class. They gave us saltines and kool-aid, and I remember thinking they would be nice grandparents to have. At Christmastime, the Sunday School class was set to have a random gift exchange. Every child was supposed to bring a gift that could be exchanged with any other child.....no specific gift designations. I received the gift of an Avon 7 bead necklace which was very popular at the time. I loved it so much and was thrilled to have it! I was somewhere between 5 and 7 at the time. (Back in the 1970's and 80's, Avon was a cosmetic company that was also known for it's inexpensive jewelry. I couldn't find a price on what this necklace would have cost back then, but apparently there is ...

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