organized chaos

You know, even movies with raunchy jokes can have a good message. Hear me out.

Last night, My Man and I watched Click with Adam Sandler and while yes, the flick was laced with innuendos and the like, it drove home a point for me.

The main character Michael gets a hold of a universal remote from this guy named Morty who’s hiding out in the very back of Bed, Bath and Beyond. He works in the “Way Beyond” Department. And I have to say, Christopher Walken plays this Morty character and we were bustin’ a gut laughing at his antics through the whole movie.

On a side note: I got one of those universal remotes for 4 or 5 bucks at Wal mart because I found I couldn’t grow a third arm to wrestle all three of our previous remotes. Ever since then My Man complains that it’s too complicated. I try to gently admonish that each button has it’s own function, therefore you don’t need several remotes, but to no avail. Life does imitate art in this case.

Which brings me back to the movie. Michael finds that his remote does some special stuff, one of which gives him the option to fast forward through whatever he wants. He chooses showers, traffic, arguments to name a few. But ahhh, there’s a catch. A couple of them.

Number one, the remote is smart, in that it will remember what you have a tendency to fast forward and will automatically do so the next time you’re confronted with that situation.

Number two, when you fast forward any time of your life, you will have been on autopilot throughout the scenario, whether it be five minutes, or a whole year. You won’t remember conversations or any pertinent details of your life.

Now, here’s the kicker. I do that autopilot thing way too much. No, I don’t have a neon blue remote, graciously bestowed to me by Christopher Walken. He freaks me out a little. But if there’s anything I’m good at, it’s autopilot. Ouch. Becoming way too involved in my stuff and my own thoughts to really connect with my kids all day.

And I’m sure I’ve done it to My Man and to various people in my extended familia. And the consequence of such a thing is to look back after a time and lament over the fact that while time goes faster and faster, you’ve just missed things that you can never get back.

All raunchy jokes aside, this was the thrust of the movie. I’ve noticed Adam Sandler doing these sort of things in his movies lately. 50 First Dates is another example. Something that makes you think at the end.

I’m certainly thinking. I’m thinking I need to get my keister off this internet and connect with my gremlins a little more. When I’m cleaning or cooking, I need to get out of my “zone” and talk to them instead of exploding when their voices bounce off of me like pesky insects. I need to look at them when they’re telling me about “Juney” the June Bug they found outside, and give Commando Demando a kiss for every thirty love notes she gives me a day.

And I need to do these things because in a blink of an eye, my life will be over. Because that is the way of things. And I want to have relationships to show for it.