Saying “I’m Proud of You”
Peter and Trina are two of my favorite characters in one of my favorite movies, I Remember Mama. Trina is a petite, painfully shy, squeaky-voiced 40-year-old. Peter is a diminutive and shy 40-something-year-old undertaker. Both are Norwegian immigrants.
Trina and Peter secretly fall in love and decide to get married. Trina’s family is shocked to learn of their unlikely engagement. In the words of her sister Jenny, “Who would want to marry Trina?”
On the evening that Trina’s family learns of her secret love, she is wearing a feather boa — a gift from Peter, whom the family knows as Mr. Torkelson. She wears it to her regular Saturday evening visit with her sisters. The boa is a surprising contrast to her dark, conservative suit.
After Peter and Trina are married, they have a baby. In a touching scene, Peter tells Trina that he wants them to host a party. He tells her that he wants her to have a maid to serve. Trina is shocked, telling him that no one in her family has ever had a maid and that her sisters can help her. Peter tells Trina that, no, she will have a maid.
Then he tells her that he not only loves her, but that he is proud of her.
This is probably the first time in Trina’s life that anyone has told her that he or she is proud of her. Her timid joy sinks deep into my heart every time I see it.
Our children, our husbands, our parents, our friends all need to know that someone is proud of them.
And, by the way, I’m proud of you. Thank you for homeschooling your children.
Therefore encourage one another
and build up one another,
just as you also are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11