On über stressful days, I want nothing more than to come home, have a little comfort food for dinner and enjoy a little comfort movie for relaxation. Today was one of those day.
The food: Spinach Lasagna from Trader Joe's
The movie: Sixteen Candles
Now the lasagna from TJ's is a relatively new discovery for me, but Sixteen Candles, well that's whatcha call a "classic." I watched it so many times growing up that I can recite entire sections of the movie a la Rocky Horror-style, and actually have at a small 16mm screening of it at a central valley university many summers ago. It was there that I saw a gay couple for the first time; they were so adorable together and I was both admiring their courage and envious of their love. What I'm getting at is… it's impossible for me to feel down after watching it, especially the ending… the lights off, on the dining room table, with the cake, the candles, and, of course, Jake Ryan.
Jake Ryan was probably my first crush. I was knee-deep in puberty the first time I saw the movie, and before I knew what gay was, I knew I wanted Jake Ryan. Hell, I still do. He's dreamy. Both the character and Michael Schoeffling who plays Ryan. Sadly, Michael retired from acting many years ago, just before I graduated high school, so his body of work isn't huge, but it's quality and really, once you're Jake Ryan, you've pretty much set for life.
I wish I had more in common with Molly Ringwald's character of Samantha (wasn't Molly absolutely perfect?!), specifically ending up lip-locked on a table over cake with the man of my dreams who sought me out. Unfortunately the only thing we really share is that my family once forgot my birthday. You've probably already figured out how old I was when that happened. It was my senior year in high school and come to think of it, my school forgot my birthday, too! I remember getting into a public disagreement with our principal over when my birthday actually was. What can I say, it was a really small high school — only 29 seniors, 9 of them were boys — and as the student body president I just couldn't let him think he was right when he was so very wrong. Other than that, I just let it the day play itself out and sure enough, it wasn't until the next morning that I weepy-eyed mom woke me up apologizing for forgetting my birthday. I just chalked it up to the fact that I was adopted and remembering such dates were optional; it says so in the adoption papers I'm pretty sure. Long story short, while the guilt was there I did not reap any rewards from it. Which was fine as I hoped it just made me more like Sam in the movie which would mean I would end up with my own Jake Ryan someday soon.
That was forever ago and, obviously, I'm still Jake-less. Part of me is always the optimist so I'm still holding out hope that maybe I'm just 20 years behind schedule and that my Jake and I will finally find each other and we'll slowly lean in and kiss in the darkened dining room. The penultimate romantic moment. That is until the thirty-six candles on my cake set us both on fire.
In the meantime, I shall happily survive swooning vicariously through DVD. *swoon*
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