Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

As some of you may know, my best-laid Christmas plans went slightly 'agley' when I broke (or at least cracked) a couple of bones in my foot, including at least one toe. For most of the past two weeks, I've been staying home and off my foot when I could, and wearing one of my Dad's size 16 flip-flops on my left foot to keep my socks from getting wet in the snow and rain without rubbing against the giant black-purple bruising and the puffy toes when I had to go outside to get to work.

I finally forced my foot into a sneaker with a really wide toe-space this morning (without an unbearable degree of pain, and it only gently throbs when I'm not actually walking on it), so I didn't have to wear the giant flip-flop to church, and to celebrate that achievement, I decided to make a nonessential outing for the first time since the accident: I SAW A MOVIE!

After church this morning, I went to the earliest available matinee of "P.S.--I Love You", since I really wanted to see it and didn't feel I could put it off any longer. Long story short: it's GREAT.

I don't know why the praise has been so faint from some people, because I thought it was absolutely WONDERFUL. It's hilariously funny at some points, and very romantic the next minute, and often infuriatingly (even shockingly) REAL in its portrayal of all the ambiguities and ups and downs of even the most loving of relationships (all kinds of relationships -- husband and wife, best friends, mother and daughter, etc.).

I not only fell in love with "Jerry Kennedy" (Gerard Butler -- the husband who dies early on in the film, but continues to make appearances in charming and infuriating flashbacks, as well as sending his wife those posthumous letters) but could also identify with the difficulty that "Holly" (Hilary Swank) had in going on without him, after 10 years together and without ever really having dated anyone else before she'd met him at 19.

Plus, as a genuine bonus, I was thrilled to discover (I think I'd known this at some point, but had forgotten) that Jerry's best friend and business partner John (also the husband of one of Holly's best friends) is played by JAMES MARSTERS (eternally beloved to BtVS and AtS fans like me as Spike the vampire). This was the first time I've ever seen him on the big screen, and he's wonderfully charming, sweet, vulnerable, and understated in the part (and actually gets quite a bit of screen time in the first half of the movie, at least). Watch for the delightful (well, to me, anyway) "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reference that shows up in the most unexpected way during the movie.

See this on your own, if you have to, or better yet take your best friend or mom to see it with you, especially if you're between romantic relationships or your significant other refuses to take in a 2-hour 'chick-flick'. You might need a kleenex or two -- or more kleenex, if you've actually suffered a bereavement yourself in the past year or two, so I've been told -- but mostly, you'll be smiling or laughing out loud.

Anyway, that's my two cents' worth.

Here's hoping all of you, my online friends, are reasonably well and enjoying a promising and hopeful New Year.