Movie Club: How to Fall in Love..guest post from my husband

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Movie Club: How to Fall in Love

Hi gang, this is Commodore: Mrs. Wysiwyg's husband and I want to take a minute talking about the movie How to Fall in Love and my reflections on it. For those of you who don't know, I'm about 8 years older that my lovely bride and 10 years advanced in school - mainly because I started early and then skipped a grade. As such, I grew up in the 70's and graduated in the early to mid 80's and had a completely different perspective of school. And on top of that, I -W-A-S- the nerd that everyone gawked at... well, those first couple years anyway.

When I was watching it, I was reminded of my own heartaches in high school. As Kurt Evans' character went thru his issues with Brooke D'Orsay's high school rejection, it reminded me of how many times I too felt that pang. Ok, I admit it: I had a thing for readheads and that one factor often led to disaster. But let's be honest here, and I want a show of hands, we all know that women can be difficult when they want to be, but there is something about a natural ginger that can escalate that difficulty into the stratosphere. Being a sandy-brown out of a family of red-locks, I truly believed that if ever there was someone in this world who could manage the circumstances of dating a red-haired little girl, it would be me. Yea, right... Heartbreak City. Don't get me wrong, they weren't mean or cruel about the rejections, just rejectful. And when you're 14, 15, 16 years old, that hurts a lot. Added to that, I was a chubby kid who was not good at sports and a brainiac that put most of my peers into the "help-me-with-my-homework-but-nothing-else-because-you're-so-smart-you-scare-me" mode. Either that or them using me as their own personal counselor as they talked about how their boyfriends treated them badly. So dates usually meant either books or boring. And like the young Kurt's character, I too went to the dances. Ugh! Don't even get em started on the full-scale level of rejection there!

But then one day, a friend/girl named Jackie said she wanted to help me. This shy little angel who was a great friend but nothing like I thought I wanted, was my age, in the grade below me, and was wanting to teach me how to relax around girls.  In exchange, she wanted me to be her chauffeur for the various things she did, like getting to her job at Sonic drive-in. She said that part of my problem was how I acted (tense) and that I tried too hard to be nice. She then started helping me to understand how I felt and reacted versus what was actually going on. She was my real-life dating coach, as it were, who did the kissing bit and all, just like the show. We told everyone that we were not a couple and spent the next crazy six months lying to everyone and especially, ourselves. Then, with only a couple days notice, she had to move away. In her absence, I realized just what she meant to me even if it was too late.

I saw her again a few years later... at her wedding! She had moved away only to fall in love with another guy. Was that a hard thing to sit through? Yeah, it was hard for me. But after the ceremony when she was introducing me to her new love, she did so by saying that I was the guy who taught her was real love was and what it meant to be loved. In an instant, I was humbled in my spirit by her and simultaneously being crushed by a hug from him. When I walked away from that church, I had a whole new perspective on life, love, and living.

It took many years and many more heartaches before I finally found my beloved wife, but I am still grateful to Jackie for her care and friendship. Would my story have made as good a movie? I highly doubt it because I think their version was much better, but I do feel my "dating coach" story means more to me.

And now I'm thankful for this cute movie and those who helped make it for reminding me of such a wonderful set of memories.

Linked at The Better Mom, Time Warp Wife, Growing Home, True Aim Education, We Are That Family, Women Living Well, lowercase letters, Passionate and Creative Homemaking, Consider the Lilies, Raising Homemakers