Movies...We love movies

Movies. I LOVE movies. So does my husband. We saw a movie together on our second date and when we married we combined our considerable collections of movies and now have ...oh, I'm embarrassed to say how many. D and I both often come home from a trip to the store for milk and bread with a DVD in hand. Really, neither of us smoke, drink, gamble or came into this marriage with any debt, but when it comes to movies, well...

Something Hot Cup Lutheran mentioned made me remember my second date with D. Yes, we saw a movie. Well, before I get to that, let me tell you about our first -- not date, the first time we met. The first time we met was at lunch. When people ask how we met, D says we had mutual friends, which is perfectly accurate. Turns out we knew several people in common and lived not even five miles from each other. More accurately, though, we met through match.com. I was in a dating flurry back then (for me, anyway!), and I'd always arrange to meet these guys for lunch at a restaurant I knew. Well, D walked in and I recognized him immediately from his picture. I knew he was good looking, but in real life he was even better. I willed my little heart to slow down and we had a nice talk. We had so much in common that I was glad he remembered--finally, as we were walking to our cars--to mention getting together again. A movie, maybe? That would be great, I said.

Well, it turned out that it was a lean summer for movies. Our best option was Legally Blonde Two with Reese Witherspoon. I'd seen the first installment at my sister's years before and thought it was cute. Of course it was deadly saccharin, not the kind of movie that provides any conversation topics for the coffee-time afterwards. (But as I was quick to learn, with D you don't need help with conversation topics. He's one of these people who's so well read that you can generally throw out one word and he can speak intelligently for a long time.) Anyway, Legally Blonde was the kind of movie we'd both rather rent for a dollar and watch with the kids.

As we've grown in our relationship I've noticed that our movie-watching has changed a bit. Let's see. In the beginning, when love was young and sweet, D sat in my living room and actually watched The Hours with me. After her son committed suicide, Julianne Moore is sitting at the kitchen table with Meryl Streep, and I'm always stunned by that oh-so-subtle look in Julianne Moore's eyes as she feels once again the profound pain at the marrow of life. We're watching the movie, and I see that look, and tears fill my eyes. My heart is barely beating. The movie ends. D says, "Well that's a downer. What's for dinner?"

D adores the Marx Brothers.
I cannot abide the Marx brothers. They are simply not funny.
Newsflash: All the Marx Brothers' movies are CLASSIC comedy. I didn't know that, I say. Oh yes, D tells me--for the umpteenth time. Their comedy is where comedy began! D and all three of my stepchildren know all the Marx Bro. movies by heart, and I am regularly entertained at the dinner table by Marx Bros gags, which, guess what, I do NOT find funny--(except when I do, which, admittedly, sometimes, when performed by my family, they are).

I could go on. Luckily, our tastes in movies converge in some areas, too.


P.S.....D said it was OK to blog about our first and second dates. As long as I made him look good. So I did. (It wasn't that hard.)
I'm not so sure he'd say it was OK for me to reveal the number of DVDs we have stacked up in our living room....which he alphabetized the other day. What a guy.