From Awkward teens everywhere, thank you, John Hughes‏

On the very day I found a lonely gray strand of hair embarrassingly trying to blend in with the rest of my hairs, John Hughes died.

Just what I need another reminder that I am getting closer to that scary word.... OLD.

John Hughes was the genius behind such movies like; The Breakfast Club, Home Alone, Vacation, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and one of my personal favorites, Sixteen Candles.

Sixteen Candles was the first movie I bought on VHS.  I was 15 years old.

It was the first movie I had seen aimed at my age group.

Who can forget the scene where Molly Ringwold's character Samantha gives Farmer Ted her panties in order to allow him some brief popularity?

Then she uttered that classic movie line, "I can't believe I gave my panties to some geek."

The brilliance of John Hughes is in the immediate scene when Farmer Ted charges $1.00 to all the freshman boys to SEE her panties in the boy's restroom.

I recall watching this scene and thinking, "who the hell would pay $1.00 to SEE girl's panties? I might pay $1.00 to SNIFF a pair but definitely not to just look at them."

When you're 15 years old, you are awkward, inexperienced and horny.  Or at least, I was.

No matter the subject material that John Hughes tackled in his movies, he captured the very essence of life as a kid in his teens.  Be it the geeky kid who just wants a little respect or the emotionally imbalanced girl trying to find love and affection. 

John Hughes got to the heart of the matter without speaking down to his audience.

He was an adult, a man in his 30's, yet he wrote and directed some of the finest movies that only those of us who were in our teens could relate to.

Speaking to an audience at eye level is the true indicator of a great communicator.

Making that same audience laugh and cry all in the matter of a 90 minute movie is the mark of a great mind.

John Hughes died at the young age of 59 today. 

Left behind is a legacy of art for future generations of awkward kids to cling on to as they try to find their place in this world.

Some movies have the power to be life changing.  Maybe his movies don't fall into this category, but his movies did have the ability to make an awkward kid like myself feel a little less alone.

Next time I find another lonely gray hair sprouting from my head, I can turn on an old John Hughes movie; feel young again and remember how it feels to be that lonely gray hair trying to blend in with all the other "normal" hairs.




*written in 2010