How Many Times?
I am a vintage movie maniac. No, that's not quite right. Asleep, I could be considered merely a maniac. Awake, I should be arrested.
When Frank Sinatra died, I received a dozen sympathy cards. I'm not kidding. Before the Internet, I received calls at all times of the day and night: "Rose, settle a bet. Is Joan Fontaine alive? Who won the first Academy Award? Who is Joseph Cotton?"
I don't have a favorite movie. Movie lovers love movies - not a movie.
However, I find that little lines of dialogue stay with me, and inform my life. Here is one that I cherish.
In the movie, "The Best Years of Our Lives," a young woman argues with her wealthy parents, who have been married for over 20 years. She says that love has always been easy for them. They cannot possibly understand her difficult affair with a married man.
She cries, "You've forgotten what love is!"
The husband and wife lock eyes meaningfully, then the wife speaks, quietly.
"How many times have you told me you were sick of me, and meant it? How many times have I told you to get out, and meant it? How many times have we had to fall in love?"