In Which Michael Remembers More Than I Do

Mitchell has always referred to me as “the Homer in our group of friends”, due to my propensity to write everything down and to retain EVERYTHING. I have a tendency to shock my friends with my memory about THEIR lives. I not only retain my own life, but everyone else’s as well.

When it comes to my ex-boyfriends, I sometimes feel like I carry around ALL the memories for both of us, which is not entirely fair of me, it’s just a perception I have.

Cut to a couple weeks ago. I wrote a piece on Johnny Handsome, which I hadn’t seen.

Last night, I get an email from Michael, one of my ex-boyfriends. I dated him for 6 weeks over 10 years ago, yet we have remained in touch, and good friends. Michael has gone on to great success – and I included the movie he directed (and also wrote and starred in) – Kwik Stop – in my under-rated movies series. I’m proud of him. In 2006, he came and stayed with me for a week, and while the whole week was full of talk – we also had a great conversation, on the roof, about “what we remembered“. I love that crap. The world can be a howling wilderness. It is so nice to be reminded that you are specific to someone, that YOU are held in THEIR brain … it gives substance to the intangible. It means a lot to me.

SO. There is the preamble for the hysterical email I received last night.

He and I haven’t talked in a couple of months and suddenly an email from him comes in.

I read it and started laughing.

I wrote him back and asked him permission to post it on the blog, because it is too funny a joke on myself NOT to share. When I asked him if I could post it, he replied,

of course you can quote my email (i’m a whore).
more soon.
#1 Mickey fan

I am laughing out loud.

So here is Michael’s email entire.

And remember that I had made this huge deal on my site out of not seeing Johnny Handsome:

ok.
so i just read most of your posts on Mickey and as you already know, i worship the man. more than Travolta. in fact, it’s always been a joke amongst my friends that i could go on for hours about his career and how important he is, etc., and for nearly a decade, i was still renting all those straight-to-video pieces of garbage for a glimmer of the former man (Another 9 1/2 Weeks, Bullet, Thursday, etc) and hoping for a comeback in Animal Factory or The Pledge or even Get Carter and finally, yes, Sin City, but The Wrestler seems to be the film to finally put our man back on top.

So.

what’s this bullshit that you NEVER saw Johnny Handsome before? uh, excuse me, but i distinctly remember showing it to you in Ithaca, at that first apartment Pat & i were staying at, one cloudy Sunday afternoon, talking throughout, pointing out his genius, especially the scene in which he takes off the bandages. how could you forget any precious moment with me?

I have no reason to doubt Michael’s memory – although, in my defense, I have NO memory of this – and that is so weird to me, because like I said – I remember everything. I thought I remembered EVERYTHING about our relationship. That’s the whole point of the damn cup I stole. But somehow, I did NOT remember him showing me Johnny Handsome and “pointing out his genius” to me “one cloudy Sunday afternoon”. Not only that – but the movie itself has VANISHED from my memory. I remember word for word dialogue from 8 is Enough episodes that aired in 1979 and I don’t remember Johnny Handsome, a movie starring my favorite actor? Was I on crack? Was I so overwhelmed by Michael’s presence that I wasn’t thinking straight? What the hell?

Perhaps it will come back under hypnosis.

So now I am getting a taste of my own medicine. Someone remembers MORE than I do. Very odd. And also – I have been SO busted on my “Ohmygod I have not seen Johnny Handsome” statements and I just love it when that happens. It’s so funny to me. I love picturing Michael reading that post and being like, “What the hell is her problem? Yes, she DID see Johnny Handsome. BAH HUMBUG.”

So, yeah. I guess I DID see Johnny Handsome, lo those many years ago, as the clouds rolled in from the north, sitting next to my boyfriend, as he pointed out moments he loved, a movie that clearly means a lot to him. But as far as I’m concerned NONE of it remains in my brain. I’ll just have to trust him that it happened.

I revel in the novelty of this experience.