Oh my goodness, there is something really, reallllllly terrific about getting lost in a movie on a Friday night. Especially if the movie is a Nicholas Sparks movie. I guess this is where I write the usual disclaimer for those of you just joining me…I’m a love junkie, and a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan so if either of these things don’t sit well with you you might want to switch to another blog.
I met Nicholas Sparks in North Carolina many years ago. I was already in-love with him before meeting him because I had just finished reading his first published novel The Notebook, and I was so moved by it that I jumped at the opportunity to hear him speak to our small women’s group. He was just as I suspected he would be, a Southern gentleman who was very articulate and charming. I learned that day that most of his stories are based on true events in his life and he shared a few personal stories and new projects he was working on. I still have my weathered copy of that book with his personal note written in it.
Fast-forward many years later and The Notebook has a completely different meaning, as the truth of it has hit home personally and what was originally a beautiful love story to me is now an incredibly sad reality.
Tonight I found myself swept away again, to a common Sparks locale, and feeling nostalgic with images of the Carolina coast. I got lost for a few hours…lost in a fantasy of love and ideals and then I felt sober suddenly as I realized how fast time passes and how precious true love is.
