I Am Thirteen Years Old All Over Again

Scattered Mom - remember when I was talking to you about these a few months ago?  Guess what I bought today???

I’m an Anne nut.  Always have been, always will be.  When I was thirteen years old my mother bought me the VHS tapes of the first movie and the sequel for Christmas.  I watched those babies over and over until the black tape became so ratty there was more crackles on the screen than good bits.  I watched them when my mother, in one of her common knitting spurts, would hand me parts of a Jean Greenhowe toy to sew up.  I watched them whenever I was feeling lonely, romantic (not at thirteen of course…later, LOL) sad or just plain girly.  They were the building blocks of my teen years.

And then the spool in the double-tape sequel broke.  We tried repairing it, but it was no good.  Anne’s life past the age of about 17 was gone.  Diana never had her wedding.  Anne and Gilbert never got together on his deathbed.  No bridge scene.  Sigh.

The original movie held up though - going on 15 years now.  I kept it for when Miss Moo got older and she is finally getting to the stage where the characters are beginning to draw her in.  I also have a boxed set of the eight Anne books, bought when I was fourteen.  Would you believe I bought those with the express purpose of giving them to my future daughter someday?  They’re safely packed away for Moo and I’m secretly thrilled.

For the last few years since DVDs have become common, I have searched in vain for copies of these films.  Those copies I could find online were sold from overseas and with the purchase price and shipping would have cost an arm and a leg, if they even worked down here.  And then I found them in a local bookstore.  For FORTY DOLLARS EACH.  They became the elusive item I was forever picking up and longing over, but never buying.  I mean, I love the films, but $120 dollars? That’s crazy!  It didn’t help that Talented Hubby was simultaneously bewildered at my connection to the films and as incredulous as I was at the price.  So I put it off.  Eventually, I made up my mind that I was going to just go ahead and buy them, one at a time, when I had a little spending money.  The last payment from my mother’s estate came in a few months ago and I’ve been sitting on that money for a while now, wondering how to spend it.

And then.  AND THEN.

K-mart HAD THEM ON SALE THIS WEEK.  A store that I have never seen them in, suddenly up and got them in stock and at only $23 each!  I saved $51 by procrastinating!  I was like a kid in a candy store!

Not only the first and second films but the THIRD as well.  I’d seen it once as a telemovie years and years ago but oh, to have all three films in my hot little hands!  You cannot imagine my glee!  And Hubs has spent most of the night looking at me with one of those ‘two more seconds and I’m going to call the men in white coats’ looks.  Party pooper.  I’m tooooooootally going to be havin’ me an Anne Marathon this weekend.  He can play with his own iconic childhood memorabilia.  The Lego and his old trading cards.  Oh, and the rubber-band ball he started when he was twelve.

Anne, I’ve missed you, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie