Why i love "You've Got Mail"

Okay, so I have myself a list of all my favorite movies (it's a mental list and is continually being added to). I think I have at least twenty movies in my "Top 5" list, and probably a hundred in my top 20.

But one movie that I always go back to and will probably always be number one is "You've Got Mail".

And I have some pretty good reasons why

(In no particular order...)

1. Kathleen Kelly.

I just really want to be her. She has the cutest little haircut and classiest clothes, owns her own bookstore, and is just charming as all get out. And she has all the best lines. When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.

2. The soundtrack. So perfect for the movie. I don't know a ton about music, but I really think every song is just so fitting and so wonderful. Especially the version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" played at the very end.

2.5 I love that they include the internet connection/dial-up sound. You know the crackly, beeping, I-can't-even-begin-to-fathom-how-to-spell-it-out sound? Last time we watched this I explained to Kolton how it is so sad that our children will not even recognize that sound.

3. This movie is actually what inspired me to be a teacher! (He is the one that got me thinking about writing!) One night at college when I was sick (more on that later) and going through an identity crisis (more like a 'what should I major in'  crisis) I was watching this movie all by my lonesome in my bedroom with the TV propped up on a chair at the end of my bed.

When I got to the part where Kathleen Kelly is the storybook lady reading to the kids, I started thinking how much fun I would have reading my favorite books to kids and introducing them to all the great books out there. I know my limits and realize there's no way I could be a small business/bookstore owner, and I started thinking where else I could read to kids.

"A teacher!"

popped into my head.

I thought it was a funny little notion and tried to shrug it off. NO way could I be a teacher.

But it kept nagging and nagging at me and now look at me.

And I owe it all to the storybook lady.

4. Daisies.

I owe my fascination with daisies to Kathleen Kelly (see #1) she loves daisies (Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?) so I decided that I also love daisies. It is my dream to have kolton deliver a big bouquet of just daisies delivered to me so I can put it in a pretty little vase and just admire them.

5. You've Got Mail is better than Nyquil when I am sick. It is my very best remedy. Whenever I come down with a nasty cold (I have a temperature!) I curl up on the couch with my box of Kleenex (She told me, read it with a box of Kleenex) and pop it into my VCR (some movies are just much more charming fuzzy and shaky and on videotape). Sometimes I'll just fast forward to the scene where Kathleen Kelly is sick and Joe Fox comes to visit her (with daisies). Works every time.

6. Not many movies can get me teary eyed. I've got a heart of stone when it comes to movies (usually). Occasionally, however, something will crack through the tough exterior and bring a little tear to my eye. You guessed it-You've Got Mail. The part that always gets me (always) is when Kathleen Kelly is in her shop for the very last time. It's dark and she's all alone "Soon, it'll be just a memory. In fact, someone, some foolish person, will probably think it's a tribute to this city, the way it keeps changing on you, the way you can never count on it, or something. I know because that's the sort of thing I'm always saying. But the truth is... I'm heartbroken. I feel as if a part of me has died, and my mother has died all over again, and no one can ever make it right." Oh this part just kills me every time! And now every time I drive by a business that has closed or is having a huge sale because "All inventory must go!" I remember this part in the movie and it makes me so sad for whoever is saying goodbye to their little dream.

7. The dialogue. Oh, the dialogue. It kills me. This is probably the number one reason why I love this movie. iI's just so witty and charming and contains perfect little snippets of life in general. My favorite lines:

  -Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.

-People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all... has happened.

-Joe Fox: It wasn't... personal.
Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's "personal" to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?...Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

-Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

-The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.

- I must warn you that when you finally have the pleasure of saying the thing you mean to say at the moment you mean to say it, remorse inevitably follows.

Oh I love it! And this is just a small sampling. On each of these I could just hear their voices and the inflection and emotion (that's what happens when you've seen a movie 100+ times).

See it. I know you'll love it.

**all italicized quotes brought to you by You've Got Mail