Busted TV...

...happy heart!
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by PAM

I have been recuperating from 'good old flu', which seemed jealous that I'm being thrown off track by vertigo and other stuff more effectively than it ever did, and that, no matter what, I've still been able to work through all the stuff.  What I found out was, there's nothing like a 'jealous flu'... it comes raging like a wild bull on a, uhm... yeah, wild attack!  And, when you're hit... there's no other way for ya but... uhm, down!  So, yep... I've been down with good old flu! 😷

To feel a bit better, I've been 'glued' to the TV... BBC there, HGTV here with some sprinkling of HBO and Star Movies, a handsome dash of Diva Universal and a dose of GMA Network News in between meals, plus a whole lot of National Geographic and Discovery Channel... that is, if I were able at all to stay away from my e-mail and cellphone to monitor the goings on in the Office!  Yep, what can I say... I'm an 'overworked workaholic'!  And good old flu loves yours truly!  But, that's fine because I have the perfect antidote... my good old TV (and I mean, really actually 'old'), of course! 😏

So, imagine my misery when my TV conked out on me!  

I was having an extended afternoon nap when there was this incredible burst of lightning that, I imagined, lit up the whole Metro Manila... followed by a deafening rumble of thunder.  It was so loud, like some missile hitting something solid. It made me utter a heartfelt prayer.  It was so frightening that I actually imagined my old TV almost leapt to the bed for cover!  That left me dazed for a while.  I thought something might have been hit by that lightning or something went rolling with that thunder... so I reached for my remote control to switch the TV on, and find out in the news.  Click, nothing.  So, I tapped the remote, perhaps, the battery was 'frightened' by the thunder, it needed some 'shake and slap'. Click... click, click... nothing. I reached out to manually switch the TV on... it gave a weak 'ccclick', and then... nothing.  After a few more attempts, I decided to bring the TV down from the entertainment cabinet, and put my engineer's hands to work.  The verdict... the lightning and thunder probably scared the spirit out of my old TV... forever!  RIP. 😢

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Out with the old, in with the new

So, after a few attempts to satisfy my craving for entertainment, going out to the family room to watch TV, and feeling incredibly dizzy in the process... I decided to stay in bed and seek YouTube for entertainment, instead.  It's more convenient... I get to monitor my e-mail more closely, too.  It was tough though 'cause I kept clicking the e-mail tab in my Safari browser... often leaving YouTube forgotten.  

And then, I chanced upon this 2012 Hallmark TV Movie, "Christmas with Holly", which I gathered was based on a Lisa Kleypas novel titled, "Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor".  

Tom Cruise + Rafa Nadal = Sean Faris

Before I knew it, I was actually glued to the computer screen.  At first, it was because of this really beautiful kid, Sean Faris, who was the lead actor in the movie.  That boy's face was so mesmerizing, indeed!  It was like staring at the face of a young Tom Cruise and a young Rafa Nadal - combined.  Imagine that!  So beautiful!  He didn't have to do much 'cause the camera loves his face.  He just needed to be on the screen... and it's worth-watching already!  Of course, I'm exaggerating... but I'm sick, I'm allowed to exaggerate. 😜

Well, to be honest, I was not paying attention to the movie for the first 10 minutes or so. I was merely getting mesmerized by Faris's face.  And then, the storyline just went better and better (well, for a sick person, that is)... starting from that scene when Faris's character, Mark Nagle, went home to Friday Harbor, reunited with his brothers in an old house that his older brother, Scott (played by another scruffily beautiful man, Dana Watkins) was renovating, and where his other brother, Alex (played by the hugely charming and funny Daniel Eric Gold), was taking refuge in between and-how-are-those-important-to-the-world scientific expeditions.  The broken-hearted Maggie (Eloise Mumford) who was quite literally left at the altar by his would-be groom, struggling to put her life together, fulfilling a childhood dream as a toy store owner in Friday Harbor, was so lovable.  So much so that when she started 'stealing' Mark's heart in her melancholy con quirky and warm ways, I find myself 'praying' that it'd work out for them

Mark and Holly, lost souls...
...finding their way home with love's eyes.

because she really deserved a kind and beautiful man like Mark, too (my excuse: I was sick).  And Holly (played by twins Josie and Lucy Gallina)... oh, what an adorable little girl!  It was easy empathizing with her and her uncle Mark.

It was a simple enough plot (spoiler alert!)... three souls (Holly, Mark and Maggie), battered by life's curve balls, crossing paths, finding the goodness that each one sought in life in each other, and finding love blooming around them in the process.  Mark's sister, Victoria or 'Vicky', was a single mother.  She left island living in Friday

The Nagle brothers: when all is said and done...
...family, home is all you'll ever really need.

Harbor as a 19-year-old to lead a life of adventure in Seattle, leaving her family and home behind.  Mark, her youngest brother, who was her 'favorite', begged her to stay to no avail. She met a sudden and tragic death, leaving her little girl, Holly, alone.  As Mark was Holly's legal guardian, chosen by Vicky when she decided to have Holly as a single mother, he was obliged to take care of Holly.  He had a coffee brewing business in Friday Harbor, but he left those to his business partner to be with Holly in Seattle.  Holly was so shocked and traumatized by the loss of her mother that she became 'mute'.  Mark did not know anything about raising a kid, but he followed what Vicky told him when she asked him to be Holly's guardian... "you just start by loving her. The rest will follow".  He was devoted to Holly, but nothing was ever working for her in Seattle.  So, he decided to bring her to Friday Harbor to be close to the family, in a homey surroundings with his brothers and childhood friends, and to study in the island's school where he and his siblings felt nurtured as children. In the process, he left his relationship with Shelby (Alex Paxton-Beesley) in Seattle to

Maggie and Holly...
...to truly care is to speak and act from the heart.

chance until they drifted apart.  Both were aware that Mark's devotion to Holly is something that Mark is not willing to compromise, and Shelby was not willing to play second place to Holly in Mark's heart.

Holly and Mark came across Maggie and her sister in the ferry on their way to Friday Harbor.  Holly instantly took to Maggie because of how Maggie's natural goodness as a person shone through even in the smallest of efforts as picking up a toy that Holly dropped, and yet, it was not enough to make Holly speak.  A few more chance meetings with Maggie, sweet family banters between her uncles, many instances of enjoying warm security blanket from a family's love, and a close-knit circle at school around caring teachers, and Holly started to open up.  And then, with Maggie's subtle persistence to help Holly speak... the little girl finally did.  It was a lovely moment... that even I shed tears over. 😯  And that led to a really beautiful Christmas, with Mark and Maggie finding love, and Scott, Alex and Holly enjoying the sweet bond of family with the two love birds. 

Needless to say, I fell in love with the movie.  It's not your Martin Scorcese or Christopher Nolan sort of a film nor a

Home Sweet home...

Julian Fellowes sort of TV production... but it was 'perfect' because it touches the heart.  I watched it three times already... and I intend to keep watching whenever time allows. 😊 It will be one of my 'balms' on truly 'blistery' days!

So, this is probably the reason why my old TV decided to say goodbye... there are better and happier things to discover out there when I'm not stuck with it... in 'guilty loyalty'.  I'm glad to have ventured out. I hope to do the same... in bigger things in life.

My rating:  Don't expect much, just go with it, and go for it... when you have time on your hands, that is.

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Photo credit:  Those are screenshots from the movie, thanks to the video owner.
Video credit: Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.

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