Every once in awhile I find a movie that I like to share because it has hit a chord with me. Chris and I had a nice date night on Saturday night and went to see “Champions” starring Woody Harrelson. I had seen the trailer and the subject matter was something that appealed to me because it involved intellectually challenged adults. If you know me at all you know of my love of our sweet Carlton, Chris’s brother, who had Down Syndrome and sadly passed away in 2019.

I miss this guy so much. Living with someone with an intellectual disability is not easy. While you love them and want the absolute best for them it is not always easy as my beloved husband can attest to. A lot of things are difficult when you live with someone with a disability and until you have that in your life I don’t think you can really understand.

I lived with Carlton for about 7 months after his dad died and before he went to live with his sister. It was a growing time for me and while I adored Carlton if I am honest there were times he exasperated me. Life was never dull, trust me. There was the time I found a pepperoni in the bottom of the washing machine from when he hid treats in his pockets and I missed it before laundry was done. There was the late night singing and shenanigans. Then there were the love notes that I found in the mornings and all was forgiven. Of course it was.

So when I saw that there was a movie about an intellectually challenged basketball team coached by a less than enthusiastic coach who had drawn the community service job as a result of his DWI I thought I needed to check it out.

I loved it. I saw an interview with Woody Harrelson and it made it clear that he loved this group of actors and had definitely bonded with them. When I saw some of the mannerisms and heard some of the comments made in the movie it was pure Carlton and made me smile and miss him.

While the movie has some not so great language and sexual innuendo and content ( I have to give that disclaimer) it was a feel good story and with what I felt was a heart felt story. I needed that and was happy to be able to watch these actors perform flawlessly. What a joy. Plus it made me happy to hear some Smash Mouth and Outkast.