Not So Famous…

It’s been a long time since I sat down and just had to write.  It’s been a long time since I had so much to write about that I had trouble organizing it.  Stream of consciousness has always suited me, anyway.

I just finished watching P.S., I Love You with my wife.  I bought it for her for her birthday.  It was something she’s been wanting me to see for quite some time.  She saw it when we first got back from Scotland, and knew I would like it.  We don’t often go to the movies, though, so we never got to watch it together.

Tonight, I didn’t really want to watch it.  I knew she would make me, though.  I bought it for her, so I can’t really complain.  I knew I’d have to watch it…and there was something inside of me that wanted to watch it.  But that something inside me didn’t want to watch it today.  I don’t know whether it was the fact that I knew what it was about, and didn’t want to get emotionally entangled in a movie just now.  Actually…I do know what it is. Slight spoilers ahead.  I knew these things before I saw the movie, though, and I can say that they didn’t ruin it for me.

The basic premise of the movie is that a man dies at 35, and leaves letters to be delivered to his wife.  He has created a plan for her to get her back into living life.  That’s what I knew going in.

Now, obviously, they’re not going to write about a couple who was likely ready for divorce, and who didn’t have a great relationship.  I knew that this would be a relationship that you want to go on forever.  I knew that his death would be the major theme throughout the movie.  THIS is what I didn’t want to see.

I love my wife.  I don’t know what I’d do without her.  Actually, I do know, and what I would do is nothing.  It’s not that I couldn’t live without her.  It’s that there’s no life without her.  Next Saturday is our 5 year anniversary, and I feel like I’ve known her my entire life.  I feel like I’ve known her for longer than I’ve been alive.  I feel like we’ve been together since before the Lord created the universe.  This is no bad thing.  This isn’t like waiting in line at the DMV.  This is like waking up and realizing it’s Friday…every day.  It’s that much of a pick-me-up.  It’s like hearing from an old friend…every day.  It’s that heart-warming.  It’s like finding another Crunch-Berry in your cereal when you thought they were all gone.  It’s that trivial.  It’s the little things…it’s the big things….my relationship with my wife is everything to me.  In the movie, there’s a line that struck me.  “I am a man because you loved me.”  That says it, and doesn’t say it all.  No one can say it all.  It cannot all be said.  I don’t love her more than I love the Lord.  But the Lord has given me my wife that I might better see how He loves me.  If marriage is a picture of how much He loves His people, how can this NOT be the deepest relationship possible among mankind?

This movie made me think every 5 minutes about how horrible life would be without her.  It was hard…every 5 minutes.   This was the part I dreaded.  Don’t get me wrong…it was a REALLY good movie.  I’m glad I saw it.  But I teared up every 5 minutes, and it had little to do, for the most part, with what happened on screen.  I would definitely be lost without my Kim…  :)   The Lord would get me through whatever He throws my way, of course, but from where I stand, I couldn’t make it.

Sorry to be a downer…I do love my wife, and I’m happy as heck that I was able to help her have a good birthday today.  :)  I woke up this morning, and made her pancakes.  I was actually able to get to the point where I was about to put them on the griddle when I had to go in there to wake her up.  And I surprised her when I asked her how many pancakes she wanted.  :)  That was fun.  Then I gave her the movies I’d gotten her for her birthday. She was happy about that.  Then she went to work, where the office gave her a very nice card and very pretty flowers.  After that, she went to lunch with her mom.  She liked that a lot, too.  Finally, when she got home, I made her bacon-wrapped filet mignon with Kentucky-style bacon, a meatier, less fatty bacon.  It was quite tasty.  (Whenever we go to a steakhouse, she has the filet.)  :)  Then we watched the one movie she’s been bugging me to see for months.  :)  She said it was a good birthday.  I had fun being a part of it.

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Scotland…those of you who know me are sick of hearing me go on about it.  I’ve got a friend named Brian whom I don’t see all that often.  Really tall, blonde guy who I used to hang out with a lot in High School.  He swings by my parents’ house every now and again, and he did so a couple weeks ago.  My mom told him that I had gone to Scotland.  He said, “Ohhh…his dream trip.  He’s been wanting to go there forever.”  I have.  Still do.

See, in this movie, there are some scenes in Ireland.  That’s all I’ll say about that.  I’ve seen the pictures we have for sale at http://www.dowimages.net/store/ many times.  They still remind me of the wonderful time I had.  But seeing Ireland in the movie tonight…It filled me with such a longing.

You know, when I went to Scotland, I halfway hoped that I would “get it out of my system”.  That I would go to Scotland, come back, and get on with my life, without this silly yearning to visit a land I’ve never seen.  This goes to show how little I really know me.

I still yearn for Scotland; now more than ever. I yearn to be around the people.  I yearn to see the majestic mountains.  I yearn to see the mountains running straight into the wild lochs.  No matter when I’m asked this question, if I’m asked where I’d go if I could get away, the answer is the same: Scotland.  In a heartbeat.  Without looking back.

I’ve mused on this plenty of times, and I still don’t know why I am pulled to Scotland.  I still don’t know why a simple description, the touch of a Scottish accent, or even green, rolling hills can so tug at my heartstrings.  One of the times I teared up in this movie was one particular scene where the camera followed some green meadows right to the edge of a lake in Ireland.  It so looked like Loch Lomond in Scotland that my eyes filled with tears, and my vision swam.  I fell just short of sobbing with longing, but only just. Watching Braveheart, or Dear Frankie is just not enough to quench that thirst.  It only intensifies the longing.  It only deepens the ache.

We’re going back to Scotland.  We’re already planning the trip.  I don’t know when it will be.  Not for 20+ years, most likely.  But we’re going back.  My heart is there, and I need to go get it back.

This is something that we’ve wanted to do for years now: Watch all 3 extended versions of the Lord of the Rings in one weekend.  We were ambitious, and kicked off the weekend with We Are Marshall to boot!  lol.  We got through it all, though!

We Are Marshall is an excellent flick, by the way. Great acting, heart-tugging story.  It really is top-notch.

I hate to say this, but I definitely got bored in a couple parts in Lord of the Rings.  Part of it was that I had a lot of things going on in my mind, so at some points, I had to leave the room, just to think about some things that were distracting me.

As I said in a comment on my last post, we were kind of amazed that Peter Jackson did as much departing from the storyline as he did.  They’re really excellent movies, in my opinion, but there were some places we just weren’t able to discover his reasoning in cutting or changing things.

Last night we finally finished the first season of Heroes, as well, which was stellar.  I can’t think of a show that I’ve enjoyed as much as I’ve enjoyed Heroes.  I’m a little sad that the 2nd season was cut short because of this (well-deserved) writers’ strike at only 11 episodes.  Does anyone know where we can see them (ALL) online?

Finally, this weekend, we’re going to see Symphony X in San Francisco.  Last time the X was in SF, some sort of gay pride thing was happening.  It was disgusting, to be honest, so I’m really hoping they picked a better weekend.  Many of you might wonder why I went to San Francisco not expecting to see some sort of gay event.  Yes, I know…San Francisco has a reputation as showcasing that particular lifestyle, but to be honest, it’s not on display all the time.

For those of you who are taking umbrage at my use of the adjective “disgusting”, I’d like to say a few things.  First off, the Bible is clear…homosexuality is wrong.  However, I’m not railing against the homosexual lifestyle…just stating that it’s immoral.  Are other people going to practice it regardless of what the Bible says?  Yup.  That’s not my point.  My point is that I don’t want to see men walking down the street in nothing but a THONG that goes from their nether-regions to their shoulders!!!  I don’t want to see men walking around with butt-less chaps!!!!!  Would I have a problem with women walking around like that?  You bet I would.

I don’t really care whether or not you agree with me, though. Plenty of people won’t.  lol.  I just don’t want to see it.  If I do see it, I won’t be scarred for life.  Just disgusted.  It’s a common occurrence in SF, though, being disgusted. Just walk down market street….<HURK>

We are attempting to watch all 3 extended versions of the Lord of the Rings this weekend.  :)

I’ll let you know how well we fare.  We’re in the middle of the Fellowship of the Ring at the moment.  ;)

I just found out they’re working on an Underworld prequel, which I think is pretty cool. When you’re making a movie about a war between vampires and werewolves that has lasted for centuries, you HAVE to have some backstory involved. Heck, with a war that’s lasted centuries, you could make a TV Series; there would be so much story involved. Despite everything critics say, I love prequels.

However, I’m sad that Kate Beckinsale is not slated to be involved in this project. I don’t mind saying that a large part of the reason I liked the first two was because of her screen presence and beauty.

I’ll likely watch the new one, because I have come to really like the story, but I will lament the fact that Kate Beckinsale is not part of it.

I just saw Click last night, and really liked it. Anyone else see that flick? I teared up; was kind of surprised.