Same Time, Next Year

Had a conversation with a friend of mine some days back. It was the type of talk that usually amounted to nothing, like talking about space travel, tarot reading and time warps, stuff like that. Well, I suddenly found myself in a sort of of déjà vu, like I had already thought about this conversation eons ago. Anyway, it turns out that I’ve already watched a movie that was about the topic. I’m surprised that I even remembered it at all, given that I was never really moved by that particular movie back when I watched it in the early 80’s.The movie was “Same Time, Next Year”.

Hmm, wouldn’t be surprised if you, dear reader, had never come upon this particular film. I googled it up and it was released way back in 1978, I only got to watch this when my dad rented it on betamax, one of those boring films adults watched. It got lodged in my subconscious somehow and resurfaced when the particular discussion took place.

So firstly, what was the film about? Well it was a love story, between two strangers having a chance meeting at some secluded resort. These two strangers played by Alan Alda and Elen Burstyn, were already in separate relationships and yet, they had connected, as if counterparts in two parallel universes, soulmates I believe the term is. They fit. Of course, both realized that they could simply not leave their whole lives behind, and agreed that they would meet at that same place, at that same time next year and each year after that. Year after year, they met and continued a love story that albeit periodic, would survive everything that they experienced throughout the years of their lives.

Great story, though it took me over 2 decades to realize it.

Doesn’t it seem that people have been conditioned to look for that one person that “gets” them and end up happily in a relationship with them? Blame it on all the movies, books and stories that have surrounded us our entire lives. However, how many people do we know that have actually found this person? The reality that this other person may be non-existent is now knocking at our door, though sometimes we reject this thought and continue our search.

Wait, am I guilty of this? Probably, though I haven’t really given it that much thought. How many times have I heard people call me “choosy”? I give the last sentence a good thinking about and I couldn’t figure it out. I am not choosy, there just isn’t anything to choose from. That’s another story.

Anyway, the conversation got me thinking about that person, my counterpart in a parallel universe. Could it be that I’ve already met that person but have disregarded all the signs and discarded them as mere friends or acquaintances? Thus, rejecting the possibility, I have conditioned myself to conclude that that person isn’t it and continue the search? On the other hand, what if it’s all bullshit anyway, and that there isn’t any parallel universe, no soulmate and that life is only as good as we make it to be? Right now, the second statement is much more appealing and logical. After all, parallel lines never do intersect, do they?

Going back to the movie, the brilliant thing about it is that it has liberated people from their lifelong search for “the one”, by suggesting that maybe our cross-dimensional counterparts should be just that, and if ever any of us is lucky enough to find them, then find comfort in their mere existence and that at one point in time the stars aligned and your paths crossed. You’d be luckier than most, that’s for sure.