"One"

I love a good romantic movie, don't you?

In honor of my love for romance, especially romance on the big screen, I want to tell you about one of my favorite movies, why it's my favorite, and invite you to share (in the comments or on your own blog) about your favorite as well.

First off though, I have to tell you that I don't just like the typical romances. I mean, HEAs are great, and they have their place. Who can resist seeing the two lovers walk off into the sunset together? I mean, there they go, hand in hand, fade to black, The End. That's perfect, right? Yeah, I think so too.

But I also like those other love stories. The ones that don't always have that typical HEA, but still get you right in your gut. The ones that make you really cry, and think "What if...?" The ones like Casablanca, where Ilsa gets on that plane at the end, instead of sticking it out with Rick. The ones like "The Way We Were", where Katie crosses the street, away from Hubbel at the end, to her own life.

I'm married because of a movie like that.

If you read my last post, my B4B entry, you know all about our First Dance. If you read the comments, you even know the song. Now I get to pull a Paul Harvey and tell you... The Rest Of The Story.

Why would I only dance to "Angel"? If you've ever heard the song, you know how beautiful it is. Sarah's voice is haunting. You can feel her pain wrap around you, hear the cry in her words. You experience her emotions. But it's more than that. The song was in my very favorite non-HEA love story ever - "City of Angels".

What's so great about this movie? *SPOILER ALET* It's about an angel that falls in love with a woman doctor in Los Angeles. He struggles with giving up eternity. She struggles with letting him. He falls. They make love. She dies. In his arms. BEFORE the HEA.

Or does she?

I watched it with two friends the first time I saw it. Kel was there, of course. So was her cousin, Wendy. Wendy hated it. She thought it was stupid. What the heck kind of movie has Meg Ryan getting run over by a logging truck?!? Kel wasn't too thrilled about Meg's death, but she at least understood it. Then there was me. I totally loved it. I honestly feel that it couldn't have ended any other way. It just would have been wrong to end that movie with them both alive and happy. There would have been no point to anything if they had gotten the typical HEA. But that doesn't mean the HEA wasn't there. I think it was.

See, it's in the last talking scene of the movie. That scene, between Seth and his angel friend, exemplifies why movies do NOT need a walk-off-into-the-sunset scene to be the perfect love story. It's all in the words that Seth uses when he's asked if, knowing how things would turn out, he would change anything.

"I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch from her hand, than an eternity without it. One."

Now really, tell me there is someone out there that wouldn't like to BE this for someone else. He's saying that it's all worth it. Falling from grace? He did it. Give up eternity? No problem. Endure hunger, pain, heartache? Yep, he went there. And at the end of the day, even knowing that he'd given up everything he knew and she wasn't going to be around to share his life, it was totally worth it. SHE was worth it.

I never thought I'd ever feel that way. I certainly never thought someone would feel that way about me. And I really never dreamed that anyone else would get that movie like I did.

Yeah, Shane got it. He totally understood it. He loved it too.

"Angel" is in that movie, of course.

And after that, after he blew me away by saying that he totally understood how Seth felt, and he agreed, how could I not fall in love with the man?

You're right. I couldn't. So I did. And it was so worth it. Because, after all this time...

He's still the One.