stoopbeck

Watched Big Fish again tonight. Every time I saw Huntingdon places, I yelled "That's my school! Right there!" much to the annoyance of Mom and Danny. Dad came in on the same scene he always comes in on-- that final hospital scene. Someday he's going to watch the whole thing.

Since I'm talking about Ewan--

I've already told this story several times, but I felt like telling it again.

Mom was at Wal-Mart a few years ago. This was around when they were filming Big Fish. She was getting a truckload of bags of dirt for work. She was wearing her usual work attire-- an older t-shirt, jeans, and her knee-high rubber boots.

She got the help of one of the young men in the gardening section. She couldn't load the truckload herself because she'd strained her back recently.

The young man helping her seemed nice enough. He had a slightly thick Southern accent and his hat was pulled down low on his face.

Mom has a very specific system for loading the truck with dirt, so she ordered him around, making sure that he complied to the letter. He was very nice about it.

As she watched him load, she realized that there was something... familiar about him. She'd seen him. But where?

He looked just like Ewan McGregor.

His hair was a little darker than she remembered it being, and he was speaking with a Southern accent... but she could have sworn it was him. When he noticed her staring at him, he looked a little flustered, as if he was wondering what she'd do next. She decided that if it was him, she'd be cool about it--after all, he was there incognito for a reason. And if it wasn't, she'd not embarrass herself with unneccesary squeeing.

He relaxed, and continued to load the heavy bags of dirt. When he'd finished, Mom thanked him for his help.

He smiled, and told her, "I love your boots."

She went home and told us. I was the only one willing to believe that Ewan, for reasons of his own, was loading dirt in the Prattville, AL, Wal-Mart.

The next day, Grandma called about an article in the Montgomery Advertiser. Apparently Ewan had been sighted a few days previous at some store in some podunk town working as an employee.

When she watched the movie, she got all excited. "That's exactly what he looked like! And sounded like!" We all flailed and squeed.

Now whenever people make comments about her boots, she tells them, "Well, Ewan liked them."