I spent an evening with Mary Badham.
She's probably not every little girl's hero like she was mine. But I so vividly remember seeing her on screen being Scout Finch and just knowing that I wanted to be her best friend.
It took a few years, but eventually I realized I wanted to be both Mary and Scout's best friend.
To Kill A Mockingbird is probably a strange favorite movie for a 12 year old, but I was a pretty strange 12 year old, so I guess it kind of made sense. It was my favorite movie for a lot of reasons, but one big reason is because To Kill A Mockingbird was also my favorite book, and the movie was the first book adaptation I'd ever seen that so perfectly embodied the book.
To Kill A Mockingbird did a lot of things for 12 year old Meagan, and I could write an entire blog just about all the lessons and all the ways I grew up from reading and watching it.
But let me tell you now about a dream I had fulfilled that I never even knew was an option.
I was sitting in Chili's when I first got the email from my sister about Mary Badham coming to town.
I about lost my mind when I read the email.
I was immediately transported back to my 12 year old self, sitting in the living room of our Fayetteville house, watching Mary be Scout for the hundredth time. It's always been a desire to meet her, but I never lingered on that desire long, because how would I ever get the chance to meet her? That always just seemed so impossible.
But here it was, she was coming to my town, of all places.
The day of the event, I could barely concentrate on my work. I was overcome with both excitement and nerves. Scout was so close to me, so important in my life, I was terrified to meet the woman who brought her to life. I was terrified that Mary would be so vastly different from Scout that this Scout idea that had meant so much to be growing up would somehow be shattered.
I was stupid to worry about this.
Mary Badham is and always will be Scout. She is Scout. She just is.
For an hour and a half, we sat in very uncomfortable bleachers in a high school gym and listened to this wonderful lady talk about life.
She talked for about 30 minutes about being Scout and about her life, and then opened the floor for questions. The questions lead to all kinds of fun and intriguing stories about filming, but also just about life - Mrs Bedham's life, her passions, her thoughts, her hopes for a better world.
She told a hilarious story about Jem and the director pranking each other with water, ranging from water guns to full on buckets being poured on each other. She talked about how the rabid dog scene was filmed - with peanut butter and shaving cream to make the dog act nuts and then some kind of special horse shoe thing that made him fall over - and how she as a kid was so afraid they had really shot the dog.
She talked considerably about race, about how she had to leave Birmingham when she was 14 because her parents told her she couldn't befriend the black grocery boy and how she saw just how broken her town and her family were through that, about how she moved to Arizona to a boarding school.
She talked about adopting a child from India with her husband and how that has been extremely hard at times because of the racism directed at them because of it.
She talked about how her favorite scene in the movie is Scout reading to Atticus because she always wanted her father to read to her, but he never did. But how her husband would read to her belly when she was pregnant and how their daughter came out of the womb knowing his voice.
She talked about her friendship with Gregory Peck and Tom Robinson, about going to their houses and sitting on the floor as a 10 year old and just listening to the parties and marveling at all the musicians and famous guests who were there.
She talked about her faith, about her passion for education, about her desire for all students to get to travel and see that there are other cultures and how other people live.
I'm sure she talked about so much more, but those were the highlights for me.
It was fascinating listening to her talk, how she told stories and communicated her feelings and ideas with such ease. She talked like there were 5 of us just sitting in her living room drinking iced tea.
She was Scout, grown up. I think Harper Lee would agree.
Listening to her talk about life, about how we as a community of a country ought to live, was inspiring. She didn't talk with rousing speeches or high-pitched zeal, she just shared her heart in an intimate, honest, pure way.
She left me inspired and brimming with hope.
After the event, we were all set to leave, but Robert told me I would always regret it if I didn't go meet her. So we got in line to see her.
When it was my turn, I put out my shaky hand and said, "I really just wanted to shake your hand, Mrs Badham. It was a true honor being here with you tonight."
She kept eye contact with me the whole time and didn't let my hand go, just sweetly held onto it the whole time. Then she said, "You are so sweet. Thank you so much for coming tonight." And she said it like she really truly meant it, not like it was just robotic to say it.
I asked her if Robert could take our picture, so she stood up and came around the table to me. I stood awkwardly next to her, so she got closer and put her arm around me and whispered, "Is this okay?" I think she knew I was nervous, so I laughed a little and said, "It's great!" Before the picture was taken, she rubbed my back a little, I think to let me know I didn't need to be nervous.
After the picture, she rubbed my back once more and said, "Thank you again, dear, for being here."
I told her how wonderful it was to meet her, and we left.
A short interaction, probably less than 2 minutes total, but such a sweet 2 minutes that I'll never forget.
Her humanness is what I'll always remember the most. She talked about love, about being kind to everyone, about connecting with people. She was so sincere and so genuine, both in our short interaction and on stage, you couldn't help but fall in love with her instantly. She has a fire and a feisty side, and she doesn't seem afraid of anything.
I want to be Mary Badham when I grow up.
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