"Sanctuary is a word which here means  a small, safe place in a troubling world. Like an oasis in a vast desert or an island in a stormy sea."

You wanna know what movie I was really excited for? A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I'd read every book, I'd languished in the hilarious and felt a little pity for the children when bad things happened.

You wanna know what movie I was really disappointed in? A Series of Unfortunate Events.

With each passing moment of the movie, I was more and more disappointed. I couldn't believe that they had done such a horrible job portraying the movie. It made me sad, which the books never did. Throughout all the books, Violet, Klaus and Sunny seemed like resourceful kids who never gave up, never got discouraged, and whose parent's deaths seemed comfortably distant.

The movie....did not do that. It showed the sadness--tastefully, albeit--and Violet, Klaus and Sunny looked like....children. Children dealing with the death of their parents.

I didn't like that. I got too emotionally involved. I especially connected with the homesick feeling, for some reason. I felt the despair of having just lost a home, just lost your parents, and then being thrown into a situation where there was no comfort. Not just once, but over and over.

But at the very end, the children get to walk through their old house. The whole inside had been reduced to ashes, and I felt a part of me die with the children each time they discovered something destroyed that had been once precious.

Partway through, the children find a letter, a letter that their parents had sent while on a journey--

The Letter That Never Came. It read as follows:

"Dearest Children,
Since we have been abroad we've missed you all so much. Certain events have compelled us to extend our travels. One day, when you're older, you will learn all about the people we've befriended and the dangers we have faced.
At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe us when we say that there is much more good in it than bad--all you have to do is look hard enough. And what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events may, in fact, be the first steps in a journey.
We hope to have you back in our arms soon, darlings, but just in case this letter arrives before our return, know that we love you. It fills us with pride to know that no matter what happens in this life, that you three will take care of each other, with kindness and bravery and selflessness, as you always have.
And remember one thing, darlings, and never forget it: that no matter where we are, know that as long as you have each other, you have your family.
And you are home."


I'll admit it--that part of the movie gave me the chills. I felt the spirit so strongly, and I still do every time I think about it, or read those words.

It offered a little bit of compensation for all the horrible things that had happened during the movie. It seemed to me, that the children could get through it all because they were together. And it reaffirmed to me the intense preciousness of my own family--I was struck intensely with the confirmation that no matter what, if I had my family, I could manage anything.

That no amount of sadness could ever take that joy away from me.

Sometimes things in the world testify the gospel to me, really strongly. This was one of them. And every time I listen to The Letter That Never Came by Thomas Newman, I feel it again. I hear Violet's voice and I feel a rush of love for my own family--and an intense desire to have them close, to hug them tightly.

And so, for me, A Series of Unfortunate Events was actually a worthwhile movie. I love it.

In closing, I repeat Lemony Snicket's own words:

"Dear Reader, there are people in the world who know no misery and woe. And they take comfort in cheerful films about twittering birds and giggling elves. There are people who know there's a mystery to be solved. And they take comfort in researching and writing down any important evidence. But this story is not about such people. This story is about the Baudelaires. And they are the sort of people who know that there's always something. Something to invent, something to read, something to bite, and something to do, to make a sanctuary, no matter how small. And for this reason, I am happy to say, the Baudelaires were very fortunate indeed."