In my middle school years my vivacious aunt somehow heard I had never seen Rocky. She gathered my cousin and I together for a weekend and we marathoned all five films at the time. She was a single mother of two, always working uphill, someone who dearly loved me, and never showed any real interest in movies except for this film. I remember turning to her at some point and tears were streaming down her face.
She would have been 55 today.
It's weird when you never got to see the end for someone so larger than life, and your brain still thinks they walk this earth. It's been a few years now. She never got to the proverbial "top", though always tops to me. I am utterly grateful for the memories tied to this film and that she, most appropriately, was the one to bring them into my life.
I...