Oh fiddle-dee-dee

I just knocked out a few miles on my treadmill. They were a little slower than usual, though, because I continued to watch Gone with the Wind while I ran.

I've probably seen that movie a dozen plus times in my life. I know it well and I've always liked it, but I think I appreciated it more for its place in movie history, with its fascinating behind-the-scenes story, than its own story. It always seemed a bit overdone...a bit melodramatic to me before.

This was the first time I've watched it that it made me cry; and its the first time that I understood the many nuances of the adult storyline. No, not the rape or Scarlett's reaction to it--that's impossible to miss. Rather, the passion and the venom in Rhett and Scarlett's relationship, their heartbreak in having disappointed eachother, and their anger at eachother for falling short in so many ways. For all its melodrama, there is dialogue in this film between the two of them that is so very real, it snapped heartstrings of memory for me.

So, yeah, crying while enraptured with Scarlett's strength and twisted by Rhett's disappointment, all while processing the parallels in my own life made for difficult, teary, runny-nosed breathing. Hence, the slower pace.

Sigh. SUCH a great movie.