Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice...

oh how I love this story.

I fell in love with the book my senior year of high school. It was assigned reading and no one wanted to read it. I fell in love with Mr Bennett's sarcasm and Mrs Bennett's nerves. The way the relationship between Lizzie and Darcy unfolded seemed so true and realistic to me.

Then I saw the Laurence Olivier film version and the hook was set.

In 1996, the miniseries aired in the States. Colin Firth... Done.

But the 2005 film adaptation... the more I watch it, the better it gets. The cinematography, the music - gah, it owns me. The scene at the end, at dawn, in the mist, with the music swelling and Darcy striding across the field and Elizabeth's breath trembling... my heart beats hard in my chest.

I love the story. How Lizzie is so strong-willed and looks down on Darcy for looking down his nose at everyone else. How she learns his character and grows to respect him. How that respect and admiration comes before the attraction and feelings. Then the love that comes out of that goes bone deep. How Darcy is lonely but has an enormous capacity to love and how he sets that love on Lizzie.

Chris always rolls his eyes when I say it, but this story tells our story. I am the most stubborn, emotional person. He is reserved and watchful, shy. I thought he was the most arrogant man in the world when I met him. He thought I was reckless and childish. But then I got to know him and grew to respect him, even when I didn't like him. The love that has grown between us over these last 23 years is deeper than I ever thought possible. I thought it was just a fairy tale, but the way he looks at me still, the way he is grateful that I chose him, the way I look at him and see everything that I admire in a man... that is grace - not a fairy tale.