the family man

Over the weekend, I stayed up way too late watching this movie. It came on one of our cable channels, and I just couldn't resist (although the next morning, I questioned my sanity for staying up to watch tv when I have little ones who wake up with the sun).

For those of you who have not seen this Nicholas Cage movie ever or in a while, let me give you a very quick synopsis! At the beginning of the movie Cage's character is a wealthy businessman. Although rich and powerful, and in his opinion, happy, he is alone. Years before, he actually chose his career over a girlfriend, and as a result, never married or had children. In a sort of "It's A Wonderful Life" way, he is given a glimpse of what his life could have been had he chosen the girlfriend and not the job. He goes to bed on Christmas night by himself and wakes up the following morning with a wife and two kids. You get to watch him experience life in a completely different way; as a middle class family man. And you get to watch him fall in love with this new life.

Before this weekend, I had seen this movie once before. Nearly 10 years ago when it came out in theaters during the 2000 Christmas season. Patrick and I went on a date to the movies, and this is what we chose to watch. At the time, we had only been dating 3-4 months. No thoughts of marriage and certainly no thoughts of kids.

It was so weird to watch the movie together almost a decade later, and realize how much our lives have changed since we saw it last. We watched the movie this time in a completely new way, because we realized that our lives mirrored those of the characters. We are now the couple with the crazy but ordinary life. We now have our own two kids. Most importantly, seeing this movie made me realize that even though I may occasionally wonder how my life would be different had I made different decisions, I realize that my life is a success! It brought me to tears to think that what Cage's character learns to long for and love, I've had all along!