Reruns

We were pulling into Starbucks one afternoon.  We were talking about the money wasted renting Oz the Great and Powerful the night before and how we'll never get those two hours back.  We talked about how most of the acting was ok, but James Franco just can't ever seem to be very convincing as anything but a stoner.

Then my brain went into auto-pilot.

"Did you know that James Franco was going to be cast as Peter Parker in the Spider-man movies until they found a much nerdier Tobey Maguire?"

My wife sat in hushed resignation, shook her head and sighed:

"Yup, you've told me that a couple of times."

...

Crap.


I have one factoid about James Franco; if the conversation for some reason turns to him, I vomit it out.  It used to be a great conversation piece when I was in middle school.  There was a time people found that an intriguing bit of info, I swear. 

Am I the only one who does this?  I have a limited repertoire of memorized pieces of tantalizing gossip or obscure but interesting anecdotes and statistics.  If I'm friends with you long enough, I'm going to repeat myself.

I'm sorry.

I can only be so interesting for so long, I think.  Now, a year ago, this would have really worried me.  What if I run out of material?  How will I keep B. entertained?  Humor is one of my few assets in this relationship - I know she didn't marry me for my looks - if I can't keep her laughing and engaged how will this relationship ever last?

Will my wife grow bored of me?

But now, I've learned the pleasure and comfort we find in repetition.  Ever read the same book twice?  Ever seen a movie again?  Right now we're working our way through the myriad 90s sitcoms on Netflix.  We own all of Seinfeld on DVD.  We went through Everybody Loves Raymond twice.  We're almost halfway through Frasier for the second time.  We like reruns.

Let me say that again.

We all like reruns.

We both tell each other stories the other has heard before.  We don't mind.  We like reliving them.  When people ask us how we met, we have rehearsed the telling so well it's like a scripted presentation.  But I'm not bored with it.  I love reliving those days and falling in love with her all over again.

If you are prone to repetition, don't worry, we all do it.  Not every moment of our lives is noteworthy, we can cap our story bank.

And if you get annoyed by us rerunners, just wait.  It'll happen to you soon enough.

Enjoy the predictability in those around you; it's a sign you know them well.


What are your reruns?


S