Harry...are you out there?

**WARNING: This post contains spoilers to the incredible movie "Harry and the Hendersons". If you have not seen this, I recommend watching it, and then coming back to read this. I will even lend it to you**

Okay, it's no secret if you know me that one of my all time favourite movies is Harry and the Hendersons. As a kid, I would watch this work of genius repeatedly with my brother (my parents had taped it off the TV onto a VHS...gotta love technology). We would even "play" Harry and the Hendersons in our family room downstairs. This was really a modified version of the popular childhood pastime "House" (who didn't play that?) in which one of us would sit on the couch and pretend to be driving (portraying George Henderson), while the other one (playing the role of Harry) would jump out in front of said car and pretend to get hit. We would then proceed to act out the movie until one of us got bored or we started fighting (which was a more likely). I don't ever recall  not wanting to watch this movie, and in my adult years I embarked on a two year quest to find it on DVD (without having to pay insane shipping charges to get it from the UK). I was successful in the search when I walked into a used music store in Boston and found it NEW for $7.99! I think everyone in the store heard my squeals of joy. After checking the Hs in DVD sections for so long with no luck, I was totally unprepared to actually find it. Amazing moment.

On days when I have time (so pretty much every day), I like to take my dog for long walks through the trails at the Nature Park. Walking these trails, we actually do see a lot of nature (and by nature, I mean animals)- birds, squirrels, porcupines, beavers, etc. It's quite peaceful, and Molly is really in her element there...she charges through the trails, barely ever lifting her nose off the ground, like the hunting dog that she is. Since we aren't hunters and we live in the city, I feel like I am giving her a little taste of the life she could (and maybe should?) have, and this makes me feel like a superior dog owner. Sad, I know. Anyway, after the first snowfall that actually stuck, I noticed there were tons of deer prints along the path. But, in all of our walks, we've never actually seen a deer. So where are they? I started to look beyond the edge of the path and into the woods. They have to be in there somewhere- but where? The leaves have all fallen, so you can see quite a bit in there. Still, no deer sightings. However, since my curiosity was tweaked, I started to notice other things I had not before- like the sounds that came from the woods. While I assume that the crackling which resembled crunchy footsteps through the snow was actually just trees moving in the cold, I couldn't help but wonder if that's all it was. I started to ponder what could be lurking in those woods that I didn't even know about. I'm not talking about creepy perves hanging around in there (although, sometimes this crosses my mind, and causes Molly and I to charge a bit faster through the trails), but animals and other "creatures". And this, reader, is what led me to my ultimate thought of that particular day- what if bigfoots (or sasquatches, if you want me to be a grown up about it) really exist?? While I'm not insane, and think that if they did, it would have been confirmed by now (and not with blurry videos), I still couldn't help but continue with this thought.

Of course thinking about the potential existence of a bigfoot while I'm walking through the woods is going to get me remembering my childhood pal, Harry. Harry and his fellow sasquatch buddies were pretty good at hiding  to keep their existence a secret from the human folk. Remember the scene where Jacques Lafleur is running through the forest like a mad man (with his rifle), looking to shoot Harry (if you've never seen the movie, you obviously would have no idea what I'm talking about...and should be ashamed)? He's searching and searching, and as he runs by a tree, the camera pans up, and there's Harry, sitting there looking down on him. And Lafleur doesn't even notice! Of course, after remembering this scene, I started walking with my head up...you know, just in case. But the scene that really made me feel a little uneasy as I walked through the woods alone with a beagle who couldn't protect me from a mouse was the very last one of the movie. The one that makes your heart ache and your eyes leak and causes you to turn away from whoever you're watching it with out of embarrassment that you're crying for a bigfoot. The scene where the Hendersons bid Harry farewell, and send him back into the forest alone. BUT WAIT- he's not alone, we soon find out. Out of nowhere, three more bigfoots and a baby bigfoot appear! SHOCKER! This makes the viewer feel a little less sad about Harry leaving, since we now know he has a family- or at least some friends. I tried to find this clip so you could see what I was talking about, but could only find a huge section of the movie. Fast forward to 5:25 to witness this beautiful moment:

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvmaGKfIyn0

Seriously, I, the viewer, had no idea they were even there until they started moving. The woods are like a whole other world, and even though there's no bigfoot  in real life (probably, right?), there's a hell of a lot going on beyond what we see. Now, while Molly and I are walking along, I always wonder what's behind those trees, watching us. While it kind of scares me to think of this, I like the mystery of it. It makes me feel like a kid with lots left to discover. Think about this next time you're out for a walk. I mean, don't scare yourself and develop a fear of walks in the great outdoors (if that was where I was going, I would reminisce about Blair Witch...oops). But really take in your surroundings- it's kind of amazing to think there's a whole order of things in those woods that we don't even see, but it goes on right in front of us.