Thoughts from "You've Got Mail"

"Closing the shop is the brave thing to do . . . It is allowing yourself to imagine that you can do something else with your life." Birdie.

"People say that change is a good thing, but what they really mean is that something has happened to you that you desperately don't want, and you have no choice but to accept that thing and move on." Kathleen Kelly.

I watched this movie again this weekend with kids, and it was interesting how strange to them a world without email would be. My daughter said she could understand a world without cars and planes better than one without a computer. It was hard for them to enjoy that aspect of this movie, which at the time seemed so clever. But to me the dialog was as good as ever, and I really loved the Fox Books/Shop Around the Corner dynamic, as it seemed so apropos now as it ever was, though B&N is probably the new little store being attacked by Amazon.

I thought a lot about the choices we make when something bad happens, and how we reveal ourselves. We are revealed, too, when good things happen, I think. But not in the same way. I'm not sure this means that bad things are meant to happen, even if we do something good with them. I think it just means that life is full of things that happen and you still have some choice in what you do with those things. Eventually, I think we all figure out ways to move on. If it takes a little longer, I don't know that means you are a bad person. It probably just means you were more attached to the old vision of your life.