On Saturday, I watched the film "Before Sunset," one of my favorites. The first time I saw it was in the summer of 2004, soon after its release, when my new girlfriend and I went to watch it at the Opera Plaza Theatre on a Monday afternoon.
We had just declared our love for each other the night before, about half a year after meeting in a group therapy session. It was the first serious relationship after my divorce, and I felt that I loved her with all of my being.
We kept our own places but saw each other every day and night for the next year and a half. We took trips to Mexico, Hawaii and New York, where she shopped the second-hand shops on the lower east side for shoes and vintage clothes, and we ate the incomparable lunches at Katz's.
She was a few years younger than me but she didn't want to have kids. Her approach to my three young ones at home was matter-of-fact -- she always talked with them as if they were adults. She was never condescending.
When my youngest, then six, got into a funk because she couldn't read, my girlfriend researched the issue, bought a gaggle of the appropriate books and told her, "You're going to read these."
She did.
All the time we were together, I could tell that sooner or later I was going to lose her, not to another man but to her ambition to work with people who really needed her help.
Eventually,she did just that, on the other side of the country in New Orleans.
"Before Sunset" is such a romantic story, where a couple meet after a ten-year hiatus and discover they still love each other. It's Hollywood, so the ending is happy.
But my love story ended sadly. That was a long time ago now, and since then everything has changed. She probably doesn't even remember that summer afternoon at the movies
But I do, and for me the film brings back my hopefulness in that moment, a hopefulness that proved to be fleeting. Despite many disappointments, I still believed in romantic love at that time.
In reality, good things rarely last, and there is almost never a happy ending. There is no forever and ever, amen.
Just whatever memories we retain and the relentless passage of time.
***
Unlike lovers, the news never goes away, though there are times that I wish it would.
* The president is likely to nominate a successor this coming week to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday, but Senate Republicans are weighing whether they have the votes to confirm his choice before the Nov. 3 election. (NYT)
* Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Sunday that she opposes taking up a Supreme Court nomination prior to Election Day, becoming the second GOP senator this weekend to voice opposition to Senate movement on the matter before the 2020 election. "For weeks, I have stated that I would not support taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election. Sadly, what was then a hypothetical is now our reality, but my position has not changed," the Alaska Republican said in a statement. (CNN)
* If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, shrinking the GOP’s Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicating the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.Kelly has maintained a consistent polling lead over Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat held by John McCain, who died in 2018. (AP)
* Vigils for Justice Ginsburg Held Across the Country -- Mourners gathered around courthouses across the nation on Saturday to remember the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (NYT)
* Gulf Coast mayors say hurricane season has changed for the worse. Many blame climate shifts. (WashPo)
* Nursing Homes Oust Unwanted Patients With Claims of Psychosis -- They are finding what families say are pretexts to send patients to hospitals for psychiatric care — and then refusing to let them return.(NYT)
* Fires Scorch a Way of Life That Still Grows From the Trees -- Oregon’s fate has always been intertwined with the forests that blanket the state. Now millions of trees are charred, and those who live from them face a future full of uncertainty. (NYT)
* How California Became Ground Zero for Climate Disasters -- The engineering and land management that enabled the state’s tremendous growth have left it more vulnerable to climate shocks — and those shocks are getting worse. (NYT)
* Trump Supporters Disrupt Early Voting in Virginia -- A group waving Trump flags and chanting “four more years” created a commotion at a polling location in Fairfax, Va. A county official said some voters and staff members felt intimidated (NYT)
* A new ABC News/Washington Post poll from Minnesota finds Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a 57% to 41% lead over President Donald Trump among likely voters. (CNN)
***
For all our exes:
So I'll go, but I know
I'll think of you every step of the way
I will always love you
You, my darling you, hm
That is all I'm taking with me
So, goodbye
Please, don't cry
We both know I'm not what you, you need
I will always love you, you
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of
And I wish to you joy and happiness
But above all this, I wish you…love
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