Why Every Single Woman Should Thank Annie Reed { Super Wonderful Guest Post! }

Aloha, dear Five Blondes readers! Today we present to you a Super Wonderful Guest Post! all thanks to the 20-Something Blog Swap. Enjoy! You can find me (Erica) hanging out at Brandy’s blog, It’s like, I’m…mmmagic!

I’m guesting posting here (hi! My name is Brandy and I’m usually found at “It’s like, I’m…mmmagic!“) and always worry that I’m going to turn readers away of the blog I’m guest writing at with my unnecessary swooning over movies from the 90’s. I suppose if I was REALLY worried about turning off readers I would pick something less controversial to discuss, like abortion or the death penalty, but nothing gets hearts racing and blood pumping like talk of movie classics (or movies completely overrated and so cheesey they threaten to kill the lactose intolerant audience).

Which is why I must talk about “Sleepless and Seattle” .

I believe the world can be divided into two groups,- those who love this movie, and those who despise it and think that kid Jonah was whiny and was way too young to be hanging out with Abby Hoffman. Thankfully, I fall into the first group.

Now, I have a confession. I didn’t always love the movie. In fact, the first time I saw it, I HATED it. I thought it was completely unrealistic, glorified love, and forced Meg Ryan to spend 105 minutes looking desperate for a man she didn’t know. I ranted about how pathetic it made her look, how clueless they portrayed Tom Hanks and how unstylish Annie’s wardrobe was (I know it was the 90’s but seriously? Her nightgowns are horrendous).

As a single girl, I was wary of movies featuring the dynamic love duo of Meg and Tom. I dutifully avoided Sleepless in Seattle anytime I saw it- not ready to allow my heartstrings to be pulled, my world to be given new and dangerous hope. “Sleepless in Seattle” was the poster movie for everything I wanted and didn’t have- Annie’s voluminous hair, Sam’s cool house, and a perfectly timed and storybook romance.

Time went by. I fell in and out of love, discovered that love is never what I thought it would be. I broke hearts and got mine broken. I waited for love to knock on my door, for the man I couldn’t find to waltz into my life easily, and softly like a breeze that’s to be expected.

And then, TBS had a Meg and Tom marathon and I re-watched “Sleepless in Seattle” and saw the movie in a completely different light than expected.

As a single girl I relished the hope that Annie Reed held close to her heart. The guts it took for her to fly across the country to see a man she never met, the courage it took for her to leave Walter- a man who wasn’t wrong for her, but just wasn’t right either. I loved how expertly they wove Annie’s doubts with Walter with the love she felt for him. It was the first movie I ever saw that showed me that a man could be perfect, but not perfect for you- and if he wasn’t, it was okay to let him go. I liked that it showed me that Annie would always be wondering ‘what if?’, if she hadn’t showed up, risked looking like a fool, gambled with her heart. And as a single girl, it was the first time I saw confirmation that sometimes hoping for the perfectly ridiculous, completely unattainable, so right-for-you-it’s-almost-scary man can pay off. Because sometimes- if you’ve stored enough karma points (or you’re making a multi-million dollar film)- it happens. It happens.

A reader once asked where the title of my blog came from- and the truth is it came from this movie. I loved the line Sam gives Dr. Marcia Fieldstone on why he loved his wife “It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known… I was just taking her hand to to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like… magic“.

Though I’ve yet to meet a man who makes me feel like I’m “coming home only to no home I’d ever known”, I like the idea of it. I like the idea that sometimes love isn’t complicated, or riddled with angst- sometimes love is easy and simple. I like the idea that you can achieve something wonderful through something as simple as helping someone out of a car. I like the idea that a cornball movie from the early 90’s had me question everything I wanted, and confirmed truths about love I was too scared to question out loud. I like that until I find the perfect and ridiculous man who makes me smile, that the movie showed me that good things happen to those who take chances, and that I’m okay being my own “mmmagic” until I meet a guy on the top of the Empire State building- or at the grocery store.

I watch “Sleepless in Seattle” now, not afraid of it giving my single self dangerous hope- I watch it now because it confirms the hope I already have. That good things come from those who take a chance, to those who gamble with heartbreak while searching for the possibility of great love, to those who risk ridicule by saying what they cannot hold back.

And the soundtrack is pretty wonderful too.

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