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Low Key Birthday Weekend

Posted on November 4, 2021 by under Confessions, Life, Movies.    

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately and so I haven’t really been my usual jubilant self. This translated into a pretty low key birthday — unlike previous years when I’m celebrating my birthday every single day of the month for three months straight until the end of the year. It’s just weird. Maybe this is what a mid-life crisis feels like? Anyway, I’m trying to be as normal as possible despite not feeling completely like myself. It might be time for therapy again. I haven’t done anything because it’s not really negatively impacting my health and those around me but I do feel strange so perhaps I should do something about it?

But I digress, in an effort to be normal, we decided to have people over last weekend. As you know, my birthday usually falls on Halloween weekend so, whenever we have a get together around the time of my birthday, costumes are usually encouraged. I love costumes but I’m not one to go all out either so I try to keep things as simple as possible while still trying to be clever. One year I was little too clever with my “domestic goddess” costume idea I kept having to explain to people what I was dressed as all evening.

This year, no one understood what I was — yet again — so I ended up renting 13 Going On 30 for $4 just so people would see “the dress.” I was supposed to be Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) and Brian was supposed to be Mattie (Mark Ruffalo), which is a super easy costume for him since it’s just jeans and a button-down shirt. Brian has outgrown the whole costume thing and doesn’t really like dressing up for Halloween anymore. Not sure he ever really enjoyed it, though he seemed to a long, long time ago. Maybe we are just old and not fun anymore?

Speaking of the movie, I rented it so I actually sat there and watched some of it. It came out almost 20 years ago (2004) so I didn’t remember much of it except for the iconic scenes. I really enjoyed watching it again and it even made me cry in parts. And, no, it’s not because I’m depressed. Movies have always made me cry — even the ones that are supposed to be funny. I’m not exactly sure why.

Here’s a preview of the movie for those of you who have never seen it.

So yeah, it’s a romcom (aka romantic comedy) and not a drama but I still cried. But There’s Something About Mary made me cry too; as did Shrek and a bunch of other movies. I think I’ve yet to watch a movie that didn’t make me cry or move me in some way. Even stupid movies make me cry. Maybe in those situations it’s because I’ve lost two hours of my life I will never get back. I don’t know. I’ll pay better attention next time and try to figure out exactly what is going on and why my face is suddenly wet with teardrops.

At the risk of ruining the movie for you, it’s a happy ending. She comes to her senses, rewrites her future, and marries her best friend. I actually really like this movie. It had enough funny parts to keep me entertained. It’s cute and, even though I’d seen it before, it still made me cry. Happy endings always make me cry.

I sometimes wonder if happy endings make me cry because I don’t understand how it’s always the most mundane things that supposedly bring people happiness. The ending showed them moving into a pink house in the suburbs and it looked like she might have turned out to be a school teacher or maybe a housewife and not a big time magazine editor with a fancy New York apartment. Maybe I cried because even though she had everything she’d ever wanted in her alternate life, she ended up hating herself and wasn’t happy? Once she realized what she had become, she decided she didn’t like herself very much, and I guess I didn’t understand it. I mean, it’s entirely possible to have everything you want and not hate yourself. Why couldn’t she be a big time magazine editor with a fancy New York apartment AND still marry her best friend? I guess that wouldn’t make for a very dramatic movie but it makes me sad that you can’t have both.

Anyway, I forgot that the whole alternate future thing happens while she’s in the closet at her birthday party so I thought it was perfect that I watched the movie on my actual birthday. Maybe it’ll start an annual tradition of watching it every year on my birthday just to remind myself of what happiness looks like because I tend to forget sometimes. Until next time, GNG.

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