Quote from "Yours, Mine, and Ours"

The following is one of my favorite movie quotes. It comes from the movie "Yours, Mine, and Ours" staring Lucille Ball. It is a true story about a widower with 5-7 children who marries a widow who also has 5-7 children, and then they have one of their own. (In real life they had two but the movie does not progress that far.)

In this particular scene we observe that their late-teen daughter is making some questionable choices related to a boyfriend when all chaos breaks out as it is time to go to the hospital for Lucy to deliver the first of "their" children. The quote is from Dad to the daughter who is routed off the couch so that her boyfriend can move his motorcycle to unblock the family car.

"This is what its all about; this is what's happening. Take a look at your mother. Its giving life that counts. Until you're ready for it all the rest is just a big fraud. All the crazy hair cuts in the world won't keep it turning. Life isn't a love-in, its the dishes and the orthodontist and the shoe repair man - ground-round instead of roast.

"I'll tell you something else. It isn't going to bed with a man that proves you're in love with him, its getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful everyday world with him that counts."

As a parent I'm often looking for the key that will communicate this to my own children.


Updated: Wednesday, October 20, 2004