can i have a rain check?

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Following on what I was talking about yesterday, and with inadvertently appropriate timing, I saw the stage version of Once tonight. It may end on a bittersweet note, but it’s the perfect example of a storyline about what I was talking about, people coming into one’s life and having a significant, life-changing effect.

Saer asked me afterward why I made her watch that—you know, “bad” ending and whatnot—but I think of Once as almost the perfect love story because the main characters don’t end up together. Love doesn’t have to last to be powerful. Similarly, while Phil’s love for Rita might last, I’m not sure if it is necessarily powerful. While the banquet scene is nice and Rita buying Phil (and their night together afterward) is a Hollywood-appropriate ending, I actually think a more poetic ending—between Phil and Rita—would have been that moment when he asked for a “rain check” on getting a coffee, so he could go run errands. He may have pursued Rita before, he might even love her, but in that moment the lives of former strangers are more important than his interests.

Romantic love doesn’t last anyway.

And I say that not from a cynical mood but a hopeful one, weirdly enough. Groundhog Day earlier today (while I was building with LEGO blocks), and Once tonight, has put me in a weird mood when it come to life and relationships (and I don’t just mean romantic ones). Life, generally, is good. Specifically, there may be stresses—deadlines on lesson plans, on possible publication, on personal projects (creating a card game and finishing a short film), and the usual day-to-day ordeals—but they usually work out just fine.

That’s not something I would have thought a year or two ago. Not a thing pre-loop Phil Connors would have thought, either, even if it was true. Attitude affects our impression of reality, regardless of truth. And, my attitude lately is good.

Honestly, I’ve got more Larrys than… actually, I can’t think of a good example in Groundhog Day of an actual friend to Phil. Larry and Phil—they’ve got a nice sarcastic, antagonistic-but-playful rivalry going on, and that’s a lot like many of the friendships I’ve got these days. The more of them I’ve got, though, the less I feel like I need to find something more overtly… meaningful? I’ve got a lot of people with whom I am friendly. And, mostly, lately, that seems like enough.

Today’s entry will be short.

Like life.

Today’s reason to repeat a day forever: to accept the people I have, and not need to seek out others. But, to seek them out also, because, hey, forever.

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