This cute and fun romantic comedy came out in 1998. Little did I know at that time it would be such a big part of my life. In 1998 my children were 12, 9, 7, and 4. My days were spent doing laundry, cleaning, running kids and errands all over the city we lived in. It was a typical routine that most moms know. We had only been in our home for a year or so and were feeling the stretch of a house that was a little too much for us. We moved there, because we had a plan to put a massage and hair shop in the basement apartment that was part of the house. This shop would bring in income and help with the house bills and help us raise our family. It didn’t quite work the way we thought. Not wanting strangers coming into our home, we chose not to advertise our shop. Our clientale was word of mouth, not enough customers came. The neighbors were wonderful and very supportive. Often children would stop on their way home from school to get their hair cut. My sweetie still needed to work full time which allowed for health and dental insurance. As it became clear the shop would not provide enough income, I started working at the local grocery store, the first of many jobs through the years.

All my life I have wanted to be a stay at home mom, a homemaker. Making a home is very important to me. So now I was not only a mom, and a homemaker, I was bringing in income. It became very important to supplement my husbands income. I worked about 3-4 days a week. After a time, I started other small jobs, I even tended for a friend for many years. I did PTA, worked part-time, worked full-time, I tended full-time, and I had very responsible church callings. I even studied real estate and insurance at different times, all in an effort to make enough money to pay the bills and live. I enjoyed all of this busyness as much as I could, but then started to struggle with the responsibilities and depending on the day and what I had to do after work, I would come home at 5:00 take off my bra, put on my pj’s and get into bed. I would start the movie “You’ve Got Mail” and would always feel more light and sometimes even happy. Sometimes the kids would hop on my bed with me and we would all watch. I’ve always loved being their mom! I am usually a motivated person, I push myself, but for years I was so over-whelmed that I was just moving a long, doing what I could. Sometime in the middle of all this Alex said to me “Slow and Steady wins the race!” from the Tortoise and The Hare story. I wrote a post about that. Those kind of phases are helpful, too.

I watched You’ve Got Mail so many times, I don’t know, but I still love it so much. The things I love about this movie are; It takes place in New York City, her apartment is adorable, Meg Ryan is the main character and she is just a easy going bookstore owner who just turned 30 years old, I love books, when the story starts it’s Fall (my favorite season), there are some cute and funny one liners, one of the biggest reasons why I love the movie is how she handles the challenges she faces. She does get discouraged, but doesn’t stay discouraged. The most important part is the happy ending. My Darlin always says I need to only watch “Sweetness and Light.” It’s true no dark and scary stuff for me! Sometimes it’s just fun to escape your own life and live through someone else even if it’s just for a few hours. It was important during years when I needed to cope with a busy, busy life. Now my kids are adults. They are amazing! I am very happy I made it through those years!!

On a trip to New York City, we did a little tour of the places that are in the movie. What a blast! We saw the store that was “The Shop Around the Corner.” We’ve been to Cafe Lalo where Kathleen waits for her email pen pal, we have seen H & H Bagels-we didn’t go in, Starbucks, Zabar’s, Riverside Park & Gray’s Papaya (super yummy hotdogs). It is so fun to visit places you’ve seen in a movie.

I still love You’ve Got Mail even though I don’t watch the movie much these days. It actually doesn’t help me feel better like it used to, but I keep finding things that do.

I am so thankful there are distractions, diversions, and other ways of coping when life is over-whelming! I’m super thankful for favorite movies like “You’ve Got Mail!”