The Best Thing Ever!!!!

I'm back from my two-week hiatus. We have been putting in new carpet, which means things were not where they should have been. My computer was frequently in my car, which was obviously not in my house, which means I didn't get a chance to post. And school buildings are open, classrooms need to be decorated, lesson plans need to be dusted off...lots of stuff going on everywhere.

But I'm back, and I have a rambling for you.

You know when a person says that something is the "best thing ever?" The best movie ever, the best restaurant ever, the best blah blah blah ever? And then they make you experience it for the first time with them, and you're completely underwhelmed? But you don't want to say the food or movie or book was terrible?

Well, that is how I feel about When Harry Met Sally. I know. I must be a cynic, I must be anti-romantic, I must be something horrible, but the first time I watched that movie, I hated it. I don't know why. I think part of it was because the very first Billy Crystal movie I saw was Monsters, Inc., and so the entire time Harry was talking, I could only picture a green, one-eyed monster called Mike.

That in itself is half the reason why I can't watch movies actors made when they were young. Once I have pictured an actor/actress a certain way, it is hard to go back to an older movie where they were cast as a sexy character and take them seriously. Breakfast at Tiffany's? George Peppard will always be Hannibal Smith from The A-Team. Gray haired, cigar smoking Hannibal--not sexy. I can't watch the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice from the early '90s because Colin Firth will always be Amanda Bynes's dad in What a Girl Wants. Not sexy. And besides, Matthew McFayden was adorable in the Kiera Knightley version...he will always be my Mr. Darcy.

I try not to pull the "best thing ever" card, but it gets hard. I don't want people to be oversold and then underwhelmed. I just want them to love and appreciate the brilliance behind things I love and appreciate. And if they don't like them, I want them to keep it to themselves. I don't care if you don't like Copper. Pretend for my sake, because I love it, and if you truly hate it, we can't be friends. Just kidding. Sort of.

But the best thing about being an optimist (which I try to be) is that you are willing to try things again. So just twenty minutes ago, when I finished watching a DVRed show, the channel the tv was set to had just began showing When Harry Met Sally. And I'm giving it another go. I'm not promising anything. I might hate it again. I might like it just a little bit more. But even if I don't think this is the best romantic comedy ever (which in my mind will always be 27 Dresses), maybe I can begin to appreciate it.

Moral of the story:  give everything a try, and not just once--twice. Some things take more than one go-around before they really soak in.

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