Juno's Dad - Rebecca Perkins

“Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.” ~Mac MacGuff

Juno is one of my favourite films. Juno is a super cool, quirky, articulate 16 year old who finds herself pregnant after having sex for the very first time. She decides to keep the baby and give it up for adoption and in doing so is thrown into a very grown up world. It is a witty and poignant film, with smart dialogue and a great soundtrack.

I was watching it again the other evening with my teenage son curled up against the cold. And I’d forgotten the beautiful quote from Juno’s dad during a conversation with his daughter when she voices her worries over the adult relationships she witnesses around her.

“I just wonder if like, two people can ever stay together for good.” she says, to which her father Mac replies,

And it got me thinking again….

Do we do this really?

Are we prepared, really prepared to show someone our ‘ugly’? You know the side of us that not even we like to think too much about?

Do we offer up only what’s palatable to us?

It’s a scary prospect for those of us who’ve been out dating once more to learn to show the real us. There’s part of us that wants so desperately to be loved and cared for and cherished that we want to paint a beautiful picture of ourselves. One where we don’t have PMT, spots or bad hair let alone bad mood days and a temper. We want our boyfriend/date/partner to love us…. yet until we allow him/her to see all of us then we are not being honest with ourselves and unfair to them. Denying them the choice to love and cherish us. Let alone denying them the chance to show us their ‘ugly’ side too.