Excuse Me … Have We Met Before?

Picking up from where I left off late last night ….

Last night I had the opportunity to finally watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie featuring several big actors, like Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo. It’s a movie I have been wanting to see for quite some time now and, since Dan and I are trying out a free Netflix subscription, we figured, “Hey, why not?”

First of all, let me say that if you are a person who prefers to understand a movie right off the bat, then forget trying to watch this film. It’s confusing and eccentric to say the least, and it’s mildly Tarantino-style of shooting might drive you crazy. But if you are a movie watcher who can resist the urge to consistently say, “What the eff?!” for the entire first hour, then go for it. You will be pleased.

Without giving away the ultimate outcome of the film, let me explain the very, very basic premise: When Joel (Carrey) meets Clementine (Winslet), the two are an instant pair, falling madly (deeply, truly) in love with one another. Things are blissful until things get ugly (yep, the honeymoon is over) and Clementine chooses to erase Joel from her life — literally. The story follows the couple’s journey to forget one another only to discover they were truly meant to be.

When the movie was over, Dan and I looked at each other at the same time. Before I could get out “Would you remember me even if you erased me from your memory?” he said “Would you ever want to erase me from your memory?” Tells you a bit about us.

We giggled. And then, we both became thoughtful. Is true love — that eternal concept of love at first sight — really just two souls’ recognition of a counterpart in one another?

This concept is a wicked, but deep one. I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in the power of the universe and its knowledge of something much greater than any one of us. I don’t believe we can erase (literally, not figuratively) someone from our lives, but I do believe that great bonds are simply a deeper knowing of a previous history.

I said to Dan, “Maybe I love you so much because I have already known you prior to this life. Maybe you annoyed me so much that I erased you and everyone else knows, except for you and me.”

He laughed and said, “Yes, and, perhaps, when we found each other again, they all said ‘Screw it. Just let them be.'” We giggled again.

The feeling after this movie was one that was reminiscent of the weirded-out vibes you get after watching a movie like “The Matrix” or reading a book like George Orwell’s 1984. What if we are all just one big, computerized, numerical universe? What if we are all being controlled by Big Brother and we don’t know it?

What if I knew you before and these familiar feelings are simply things I have already felt before?

Cue the spooky, Twighlight Zone music.

Would You Remember a Love “Forgotten”?

“How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.” — Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”

More on this tomorrow …..

The Magic of a Tiny World In a Speck of Dust — It Can Make Your Day!

If you have ever read the unforgettable works of Dr. Seuss, then you are well aware of the magic his stories possess. When I was younger, — and even still now — I used to love to read his books, such as The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I always figured that anyone who is referred to by a moniker like Dr. Seuss just must be naturally fabulous.

The great Seuss’ birthday was Sunday, March 2nd. But if you forgot to celebrate, that’s OK because many people and groups devote the entire month of March to celebrating the children’s literary guru.

What’s more, a movie version of Seuss’ book Horton Hears A Who is coming out in theaters on March 14th. For those of you who do not know the story, an elephant named Horton one day hears a cry for help from a speck of dust, only to discover the world of Whoville. The book follows his journey to protect the speck, and the struggle of the Whos to make themselves heard to an unbelieving world. In the end, Horton wins and persuades the Whos to make as much noise as possible to prove their existence.

The movie version of Horton Hears a Who stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Carol Burnett, just to name a few.

This story of Horton reminds me so much of the many magical notions that are lost upon us as we grow older. No one believes in Whoville or the tooth fairy anymore and if they do, like Horton they are laughed at by the world that surrounds them.

When I was younger, I was positive that fairies inhabited the world and were responsible for much of the sparkle in my life — my creativity, magical thinking and laughter. As I grew older, life began to teach me otherwise.

But who is to say that Santa Claus and pixies and the Tooth Fairy do not exist? Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think that a big, jolly man slides down my chimney every Christmas Eve (I don’t even have a gosh darn chimney!), nor do I believe that the Easter Bunny leaves me my favorite, Peeps, every holiday.

But I do think that the belief in the spirit of magic is a necessary one. How else are we to understand the little things that glitter in our daily lives? I may no longer believe in fairies that sit outside eating the maple syrup snow cones I have made for them, but I do know for sure that the pot of “Fairy Dust” from my grandmother that sits in a jar on my dresser makes me smile. The simple notion of magic in the air makes me happy. And I think that anyone who has chosen to continue the essence of magic will agree that it allows you to know a tiny secret of which others are missing out.

No, my mother no longer believes as she did when she was young that The Borrowers have stolen her missing things. But while she may not trust that a minuscule person has pocketed her eyeglasses, she knows one thing is absolute — the mere thought of a small man, hunched over with her frames on his back makes her grin.

And losing the glasses? Well, it’s not that big of a deal after all.