You've Got Mail

I love romantic comedies. In fact I love any art form that adheres to a rigid formula and still achieves success, and You've Got Mail is as successful as any other filmed romantic comedy.

In the movie Meg Ryan decides to close her charming little book shop because it's business has been crushed by Tom Hanks's corporate monster. There is a scene where Meg goes to tell her surrogate mother figure, played by Jean Stapleton that she's decided to close the shop.

"Closing the shop is the brave thing to do."

"Why?" Meg asks impishly. (Meg is perennially impish in these films.)

"Because it means you're daring to imagine life in a different way."

Or some thing to that effect.

Anyway, my point is that there are a handful of films that contain lines that when they're spoken echo inside me because of their truth. This is one of them. I have to admit that I do admire the sentiment, and much of my life has been lived in such as way as to reimagine it.

But as I grow older, there comes a point where rebuilding my life becomes almost tedious. On the one hand I look at people I know who trudge through the same job day after day and marvel at how they survive the montony. But on the other hand I also envy the stability and comfort that day-in, day-out routine has built.

I don't have that today, but I think I might like to have it for tomorrow. For me, stability would be daring.