So what is it about the movie Mama Mia that absolutely, completely, thoroughly sweeps me far, far away? What compelled me to see it at least a half dozen times in the cinema with anyone willing to go with me….and then buy it when I only own about 3 DVD movies….and watch it, now probably upward of 25 times?

What is it about that movie?

It’s EVERYTHING.

It’s everything that speaks directly to me and cuts me to my core. It’s:·

• the friendships

among the young girls, the older women, the men, the friends participating in the wedding, the Greeks working at the inn

•  the scenery

the sea glistens, the stone terra cotta villa shimmers in the sun, the bright colors on their summer clothing, and the vibrant bed sheets hanging across the courtyard

• the chapel

high up on a mountain in the middle of the sea...that the bride gets to by donkey with tiny white lights twinkling to mark the rugged staircase to the top

• the fact that Donna (Meryl Streep) has old friends coming from far away...and hasn't made her bed. I would never do that, but would secretly love to

• Dancing Queen

oh my goodness, it's Dancing Queen -- one of my all time favorite movie scenes. The scene captures "the old days" of the girl band for Donna and her middle aged friends simultaneously with the hardworking Greek women who throw off their bundles of sticks carried on their backs and their aprons to join the dancing tribe of women skipping through the woods down to the sea where they dance in unison on a giant dock and then jump in. The scene is pure, unadulterated joyful women escaping and being free-spirited for a collective moment!

• the story

I laugh out loud and discover my sense of humor

• the final scene

of the wedding in the chapel and the 3 dads and how Sophie doesn't care if her mom "slept with hundreds of men"

• the ending

long lost love found at midlife, two young people leaving to find a life of their own and start their exciting journey with a feeling of "possiblity" that only young people can feel as purely· it's ordinary people coming together and touching each other through conversation, laughter, dancing, comeraderie, shared experience

Ah-h-h.

It has all the elements that touch and move me deeply. It makes me smile, laugh, cry, and feel better every time I watch it.

If art can do that to just one person….success.