Time Traveler's Wife

A few Christmases ago, Roger bought me "The Time Traveler's Wife" book.

It was not even on my wish list at the time but he knew me well enough to know I would love it.

I had been telling him about "Outlander" series of books that I read a few years ago where one of the main characters time travels.

And Roger being the awesome husband he was and the amazing gift giver found "The Time Traveler's Wife" for me.

He knew me so well.

And I did love it.

I loved the story.

I loved the premise.

I loved the detail.

And the crazy thing, she becomes a widow.

But in some ways, she is lucky.

She gets to see him after his death.

Not right away.

More than forty years later.

But she got to see him.

She also knew it was coming.

Maybe not the complete details.

But she knew.

How I would give almost anything to see him again.

For five minutes.

A couple of months ago, I saw a preview for the movie adaptation.

I was excited.

I teared up at the preview.

I could not believe one of my favorite books was coming to the big screen.

I told Mr. X we had to see it.

A few weeks ago, Mr. X was going on a family vacation.

He needed a book to read.

I had the perfect book.

It is not a huge girly story.

It would be a good easy read for him.

I handed him "Time Traveler's Wife".

A book given to me by my husband.

It was a strange feeling.

To share a gift Roger had given me with Mr. X.

But then we could share.

Mr. X and I could share.

We could share the story.

We could share the movie.

And in a way, he would share an experience with Roger and me.

Strange and weird but I liked the idea.

Like, Mr. X would know part of the old me.

The married/engaged me.

Part of Roger.

So he read the book.

He loved the book.

I loved that he loved the book.

And so I re-read the book so we could discuss it.

Like our own little book club.

Then on Monday afternoon, we saw the movie.

I will not discuss too much about my review of the movie.

[Same review as most books that are made into movies.]

I did not cry as much as I thought I would during the movie.

I thought I would be sobbing.

Especially since the previews made me tear up.

The part that made me cry to most: the actual dying scene.

Why?

Because it was similar.

It was too similar.

The view of time traveler's head as he was dying.

The way Clare, his to be widow, held his head.

His last breath.

His hair.

His skin.

Too much for me.

I wanted to run out of the theatre.

I wanted to hide my eyes.

Like in a scary movie, I wanted to close my eyes and ears.

But I did not.

I started to cry.

The crazy/insane part was I felt like I was seeing the movie with two people - Roger and Mr. X.

Both were very palpable to me.

I cried more when I got home.

Just thinking about the love the main characters shared.

The best line of the book, "time is nothing".

And when it comes to my love for Roger, time is nothing.

My love for him transcends time.

And I know the love I received from him does the same.

It will always be part of me.

I will always be able to feel it.

So maybe it was even more of the perfect gift.

More than Roger even realized at the time.

More than I realized at the time.

Thank you dear.

Thank you for all your amazing gift giving abilities.