Okay, fair warning, if you haven’t seen Furious 7 and you want to, now is the time to turn away. I will spoil the entire thing if you keep reading. You have been warned.

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Still here? Okay, here we go. So, between the fact that Paul Walker died while still filming and the fact that the tagline on the DVD case was “One crew. One last ride” I went into this fully expecting Brian to die. I just didn’t know when or how. I’m sure I’m not the only one. And then there was so much that really seemed to be foreshadowing his death. Starting with his wife telling Dom that she’s pregnant again, but she hasn’t told him yet because something about making him feel trapped. I admit that I was too busy flailing to fully understand the reasoning she gave. Because of course, my thought was “Dear Gods, he’s going to die without ever knowing about the baby, isn’t he?”

And even before that, the assumption that they were going to be killing Brian off made his first appearance in the movie heart-breaking. We first see him as he’s dropping his son off at preschool. I was already tearing up just from seeing Paul Walker’s name in the opening credits. (My first clue that this was going to be a very rough two hours.) So, the whole “Oh Gods, he has a KID” was just… yeah. I was crying. And then we find out he’s about to have another one. Right before his (or was it Dom’s? I’m a little unclear about this) house explodes. Which gave Mia another reason not to tell him about the baby, because she knows he has to go deal with this, and she doesn’t want him distracted. By this time, all I’m hoping for is that Dom will end up telling him right before he dies, or something.

And it just gets worse. One of their friends dies and at the funeral, Dom says that he can’t go to another funeral. And I’m thinking “You still have one more to go to, Dom.” Because, I’m expecting this. Not to mention that this is how foreshadowing works. Somebody saying something like that at the beginning of a movie, usually means that there will be another funeral before the end. And we all know whose funeral that is likely going to be, don’t we?

And then the yelling at the tv starts. Because we get to a scene where Brian is trapped on a bus that is about to go over a cliff. And my reaction was “No! Not like this. I know he’s going to die, but not like this.” I am so caught up in waiting for him to die, that I totally forget that there are scenes he’s in that haven’t been seen yet that were in the previews. It wasn’t until after the scene was over that it occurs to me that THAT scene was in the previews.

So, they all survive that mess, and they’re back in LA. Now Dom and Brian are going to go after the bad guys without the rest of the team. Well, apparently Dom thought he was going alone. But as soon as he said why he was going alone, I knew that Brian was going, too. He said the rest of the team were just drivers, they weren’t prepared for a war. Well, Brian is, or at least was, a cop. Of course he wasn’t going to let Dom go alone, because Dom’s reasoning for leaving the rest of the team out didn’t apply to him.

So, Brian calls Mia. She finally tells him about the baby, so at least he isn’t going to die not knowing. And he tells her he loves her, and she says he sounds like he’s saying goodbye. She tells him to say something else, and he tells her to hug their son for him. Which still sounds like a goodbye, actually. And at this point I’m very glad I’m home alone watching this, because I don’t even try not to cry, anymore.

So, a whole bunch of action stuff happens. Including a fight for Brian while he’s trying to get to a satellite thingy to give their hackers access to something that I don’t fully understand, but was actually the whole point of the movie. (But, I was too busy waiting for horribleness to really notice the plot. Plus, I haven’t seen 4-6, so really had little idea what was going on, anyway.) And then the unthinkable happens. It looks like DOM is dead. And I lose it. I’m yelling at the tv again. “Oh Gods, I was prepared for Brian’s death, but not Dom’s too. I don’t think I can take this.”

And then… nobody dies. Dom recovers, and Brian was never actually in all that much danger – at least once he got off that damned bus. The movie was over for a while before it really sank in that nobody died. The writers and director were magnificent bastards who played their audience like a fiddle. And it was beautiful. You spend the entire movie on the edge of your seat waiting for the inevitable. And then the inevitable never comes.

And yet, the ending is rather bittersweet. It takes a while for it to sink in that they gave Brian Happily Every After. He’s retired from racing, and from the FBI, and from everything about that life. He’s living on the beach with his wife and son, and with a daughter on the way. But of course, the actor that plays him is dead, and the real reason they ended it the way they did was to retire the character.

Plus, you can tell that the last two scenes were actually filmed after Paul died. They’re supposed to be happy scenes, but you can see on the actors’ faces as the other characters are watching Brian, Mia, and their son that this… is them saying goodbye. And then it ends with Dom driving away, presumably to go home. He’s stopped at a red light, and another car pulls up next to him, and you just know that it’s going to be Brian. They have something of a race, but actually pace each other. And again, there is that LOOK on Vin Diesel’s face. That “this is goodbye” look. And the final shot before it goes into a tribute to Paul Walker is this symbolic, sad in context, shot of the cars. The road splits, and Dom takes one branch off to wherever he’s going, and Brian takes the other one, presumably to head back the way he came. The camera follows Brian’s car for a minute, and then it goes right into the tribute.

And that did it. I was gone. It was an awesome movie, and I need to watch it again after watching the other six. So, I’ll know what’s going on, and I can actually WATCH it without waiting for the horribleness. But it was so sad, and I cried my way through it. Because I am a huge dork, that way.

A girl I follow on Twitter recently left her mother’s house and moved in with her boyfriend. She’s seventeen. As a woman old enough to be her mother, I SHOULD be shaking my head and talking about “kids today”. I am not. Instead, I’m proud of her. That may seem strange to most people, but then, if you don’t know her situation, why should you be expected to understand why I would be proud of her for this?

The whole story is not mine to tell. Suffice to say that she comes from a very religious background, that while not exactly Duggar-ish, certainly had its moments. But, it’s more than that. I’ve been following her for about two years, now. During a time in my own life when I – a grown woman – was afraid to tell my family that I would rather pray to Zeus than to Jesus, this girl introduced me to a group of TEENAGERS speaking their minds and damn the consequences. It was inspiring. THEY were inspiring.

While I was being all worried about the more religious people in my family being offended and lecturing me about my own religious beliefs, there were these kids risking a hell of a lot more. My aunts could decide to not talk to me, or even to lecture me. They could not take away my phone, my computer, my very freedom. They could not lock me in my room. They could not force me into some religious boot camp. They could make family functions difficult, but they could not make my very LIFE a living Hell. And what these kids were pouring their hearts and souls out about was a heck of a lot more major than a religious belief.

It was at least partly because of these kids that I finally filled out the religion section on facebook. And then blogged about it. Because if these kids could be open and honest about aspects of themselves that could get them severely punished, what was I so afraid of? My heart bleeds for these kids who are just trying to hold on, to survive until they can get out and find people who can truly accept them.

And it wasn’t even just the ones that lived in fear that inspired me. I was inspired by those whose families accepted them just the way they were. And those whose issues were race related rather than something that also set them apart from their families. Because, these are KIDS taking to their blogs, and to any news outlet that will give them a voice, to talk about major issues that affect them. And you know what? They are smart, articulate, well-spoken articles these “kids” are writing. And I am in awe.

The political activists of the future aren’t sitting around waiting to be old enough to be given a voice. They are damn well claiming their voice, NOW. And anyone that has a problem with that, better just get out of their way. Because THEY are our future, folks. And you know what? The future is looking pretty damn bright.

So, thank you to Kelly, and Camryn, and Eliel, and all of the other teen and twenty-something bloggers who are already out there, taking a stand. Thank you for being braver than I ever was or could be. Thank you for giving a glimpse at a brighter future. I am proud to know that someday this world will be in your very capable hands.