Rekindled passion

"The Notebook" is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. It’s the story of two teenagers, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) and Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), who had a whirlwind summer romance in the 1940s. Allie’s parents separated them because they were in the upper class and they insisted that Noah wasn’t right for her. Noah wrote to Allie everyday for a year but she didn’t get them because her mother intercepted the letters. Noah joined the army and was sent to war. When he came back home, his father helped him buy and finish Allie’s dream house.

Meanwhile, Allie got engaged to Lon (James Marsden), also an upper class. When Allie was preparing for her wedding, she saw the picture of Noah and the renovated house. Allie went back to Seabrook to see Noah. Their love for each other was rekindled. Now Allie had to make a decision and choose between her soulmate and class order.

This love story is being read by an elderly gentleman to his companion, who had Alzheimer’s disease. It turns out that he is the older Noah and he reads to Allie their story hoping that her memory will come back. We learn that the younger Allie chose Noah and they lived happily ever after.

I have a friend who was also reconnected with her first love. There was a time when she thought that she still loved him. They were already committed to other people when they found each other again. She thought that the passion was reawakened. She was so torn at first. Here was the guy who she pined and longed for, the guy who has the same interests as her. And he resurfaced at a time when she was so lonely in her current relationship. It was so agonizing for her. But of course, later on, she realized that it was just the thrill and excitement of that first love that she missed.

Allie and Noah found each other at a time when they could still back away from their current relationships. But would they have chosen to get back together if they both have families of their own?

In the movie, Allie’s passion for painting was rekindled when she saw Noah’s picture in the newspaper, even before she saw him in person. My friend’s passion for a certain art was also rekindled when she reconnected with her first love. Isn’t that interesting?

Lon said to Allie when she told him about Noah and when she felt so torn, “You don’t always marry your first love.” But we never forget our first love, do we?