Recently a dear friend of mine sent me a holiday card that he created using JibJab.  It’s a fun and very brief synopsis of one of my very favorite holiday movies, It’s a Wonderful Life.  But in my friend’s version I get to play a starring role!  (Still waiting for my residuals and my listing on imdb.com though…)  To check out the video, check HERE.

Now this is one of those movies that makes me cry every single time I watch it.  Even this very short and funny parody reminds me of my usual state when Zuzu’s bell rings–with either three hankies or one whole box of tissues wringing wet from my soppy response.

We all have our George Bailey moments.  We wind up crying in our beer at Guiseppe Martini’s place and wishing we’d never been born.  But just for now, would you please allow me to play a different role in the movie?  Let me play Clarence.  Let me earn my wings as I tell you something important.

Even when you think you’ve screwed up, even when you think you don’t measure up, please remember that the world is a much better place with you in it.  Not because of how much money you’ve earned, not because you’ve finally reached that magic goal weight that you always wanted to attain, not because of how many sit ups you did or how you look in your skinny jeans, but just because of who you are.

You are like the stone dropping in the center of the pond.  You may make a tiny splash at first.  But in time, your kindness and intelligence and wisdom and strength ripple outwards and outwards and on and on.  You are probably aware of only a tiny fraction of the lives you’ve touched and the world you’ve made a better place.  Your awareness of your own awesomeness is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg–with over 80 percent of your fabulousity lying deep under the surface.

So let’s end the film together, shall we?  Let’s run through the streets, shouting like crazy people who are just happy to be alive.  Let’s imagine a holiday filled with loved ones who surround us and support us.  Let’s imagine a holiday where we understand that we are, in the ways that are important, the richest people in town.

Wait–what’s that?  Is that a bell I hear ringing?  ‘Scuse me while I grab another hanky.

Love,

The Fat Chick