What's On The Television?

 My wife and I have seen a lot of movies. Many movies. A boatload, even. But like the way someone can always walk into my living room, see the drawers stuffed full of CDs and ask if I have any of Joe Strummer's solo albums, I know there are some gaps in my library. 

Certainly there are times while we are flipping through the channel listing that we stumble across a title we recognize as one of those missing pieces. Sometimes we pause long enough to dive in, or we record it with every intent to come back to it later. I use this tack at times to avoid having to watch something that I have seen that is on not the "must see" list but the "I have already seen it and though it's a classic I don't feel the need to see it again just to make sure she's seen it" list. 

Or sometimes, while we are sitting on the couch having one more of those "what should we watch tonight?" discussions as we flip through the endless choices on various streaming outlets, there is that one title that surprises us. How did we miss that? 

Recently, the square we landed on in this game of movie roulette was The Notebook. If, for some reason, you missed this one sixteen years ago or in the decade and a half since it came out, so had we. Even though it exists as the prototype for a ton of films like it or the door-busting star-making turn for former Mickey Mouse Club member Ryan Gosling, neither my wife or I had given it the time of day. 

Because we were snobs.

How could this slight piece of romance compare to all those big movies on our list? The answer turned out to be pretty simple: not unfavorably. 

I know. This is slight praise. Using that double negative makes it sound like we didn't enjoy it. We did. And we appreciated the bends in a well worn road. And we felt a little embarrassed for putting it off as long as we did. 

At the same time, we also realized that sixteen years ago, we might not have had the same appreciation for the story of a love that had lasted through the years. We have a few more miles behind us ourselves, and while our own story won't be remembered as particularly star-crossed, we continue to write it. Now The Notebook is part of our story. 

So, you'll excuse me now. My wife and I need to go watch that documentary about Joe Strummer.