One of my most favorite movies is Phenomenon starring John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick. Towards the end of the movie Travolta's character, George Malley, asks Sedgwick's character, Lace Pennamin, "Hey, would you, uh, love me the rest of my life?" Lace replies to a dying George with whom she's recently found love, "No. I'm gonna love you for the rest of mine."
The notion of loving someone even after they will have passed from this life is so tenderly and heartrendingly expressed by the characters in this scene, I tear up each and every time I watch this movie. But while that exchange between George and Lace is powerful and touching, another one between the supporting characters Doc, played by Robert Duval, and Banes, a somewhat fair weather friend of George's played by Sean O'Bryan, is profound.
Banes: [speaking about George's transformation] He never really changed at all. Isn't that right Doc? I mean he never really got any smarter. Doc?
Doc: Banes... how's your lady love?
Banes: We... um... we broke up.
Doc: Really? That's too bad, yeah. Now George has a love at his side and she is sticking with him. You know why? Because he bought her chairs. That's pretty smart to me. You ever buy Lisa's chairs?'
Banes: Doc's real drunk tonight.
Of course, Duvall's character is not drunk, and in fact makes a monumental point in winning (and keeping) your loved one's heart. Discover what they hold precious, what they're passionate about, what makes them tick and find a way to be a part of that as George did with Lace in buying every single chair she made when previously they'd sat forlornly with the For Sale signs on them.
Which brings me to the real life portion of my post. My husband of more than 25 years, but less than 30 years (haha), is not a fiction reader. He himself will tell you he's read three fiction books during his entire life: Dante's Inferno, Congo by Michael Crichton, and Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by James Lovell and James Krueger. Why these three? I could conjecture, which would make for interesting musings, but that's for another post. LOL! On with this one.
Last week found the hubster with an eight hour layover in JFK during a business trip. Not a drinker or a game player or a fiction reader, he passed the time by reading the first book in my series, Ella's Choice. Wait, whoa, back up there. The man who's only read three fiction books in his entire life read a western historical romance?
At this point, you're probably saying, "Well of course he's going to read her book because, she's his wife..." and blah, blah, blah. But people, the book's been out for over a year, and he's picked it up and put it down several times during that time, only reading to around Chapter 3 or 4. What made him finally pick it up and read to the end this time?
Yeah, what made him read to the end this time? I could say my stellar writing swept him into the story and held him spellbound to the very last word, and while I'd love to think myself such a great storyteller, I'll say it was an act of love, of wanting to connect, to be together when the miles separated us. With his business trips, and my traveling with our teen aged daughters to horse shows (someone has to drive the trailer) and my other jobs of writing, homeschooling and editing, we not only find ourselves at opposite ends of life physically, but emotionally. He bridged the gap that often separates us and said with his gesture of reading Ella's Choice, "I miss you and I want to be with you."
He bought my chairs. *swoon*
The notion of loving someone even after they will have passed from this life is so tenderly and heartrendingly expressed by the characters in this scene, I tear up each and every time I watch this movie. But while that exchange between George and Lace is powerful and touching, another one between the supporting characters Doc, played by Robert Duval, and Banes, a somewhat fair weather friend of George's played by Sean O'Bryan, is profound.
Banes: [speaking about George's transformation] He never really changed at all. Isn't that right Doc? I mean he never really got any smarter. Doc?
Doc: Banes... how's your lady love?
Banes: We... um... we broke up.
Doc: Really? That's too bad, yeah. Now George has a love at his side and she is sticking with him. You know why? Because he bought her chairs. That's pretty smart to me. You ever buy Lisa's chairs?'
Banes: Doc's real drunk tonight.
Of course, Duvall's character is not drunk, and in fact makes a monumental point in winning (and keeping) your loved one's heart. Discover what they hold precious, what they're passionate about, what makes them tick and find a way to be a part of that as George did with Lace in buying every single chair she made when previously they'd sat forlornly with the For Sale signs on them.
Which brings me to the real life portion of my post. My husband of more than 25 years, but less than 30 years (haha), is not a fiction reader. He himself will tell you he's read three fiction books during his entire life: Dante's Inferno, Congo by Michael Crichton, and Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by James Lovell and James Krueger. Why these three? I could conjecture, which would make for interesting musings, but that's for another post. LOL! On with this one.
Last week found the hubster with an eight hour layover in JFK during a business trip. Not a drinker or a game player or a fiction reader, he passed the time by reading the first book in my series, Ella's Choice. Wait, whoa, back up there. The man who's only read three fiction books in his entire life read a western historical romance?
At this point, you're probably saying, "Well of course he's going to read her book because, she's his wife..." and blah, blah, blah. But people, the book's been out for over a year, and he's picked it up and put it down several times during that time, only reading to around Chapter 3 or 4. What made him finally pick it up and read to the end this time?
Yeah, what made him read to the end this time? I could say my stellar writing swept him into the story and held him spellbound to the very last word, and while I'd love to think myself such a great storyteller, I'll say it was an act of love, of wanting to connect, to be together when the miles separated us. With his business trips, and my traveling with our teen aged daughters to horse shows (someone has to drive the trailer) and my other jobs of writing, homeschooling and editing, we not only find ourselves at opposite ends of life physically, but emotionally. He bridged the gap that often separates us and said with his gesture of reading Ella's Choice, "I miss you and I want to be with you."
He bought my chairs. *swoon*
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