Amnesia Fails Against My Love

So I just finished watching THE VOW and had a very pleasant realization. First, I should say I'm usually a bit reluctant to watch anything under 30% on the tomato meter, but the plot interested me. What would happen if your spouse lost their memory of life until a month prior to meeting you? Could it all work again? Of course in this film its the man trying to win back his wife. But perhaps it would have been more interesting the other way around.

Since I don't have any idea what is going on in my wife's head [understatement], I can only put myself in the shoes of the amnesiac in this scenario. Indulge me as I re-write the story for my life.

• I go through a windshield due to a recklessly wild and passionate make-out session in an ice storm. (good start)
• I wake up in the hospital and see what I think is a female doctor (The Boss) and some nurse staring at me. The doctor has something about her, but I can't tell what it is. 
• The nurse says I've suffered an acute case of defenestration. 
• The last thing I can remember is being a lowly college student in Provo, stargazing out my window and playing that 80s song "I wanna know what love is" song over and over. 
• I look down at my body and see the young, robust man I thought I was is GONE.
• The nurse hands me a mirror...  Lamb Chops and bottom half of my goatee... GONE. 
• I see my face has aged terribly. Lack of a $120 nightly facial moisturizer, stress and excessive carbohydrates have ruined me... my hair line continues to recede and ear hairs are growing.
• I ask, "how old am I?"  - The doc replies with a grin that I'm 35, but I really think I'm 41 due to some age adjustment that I made up... my confusion only grows. 
• The nurse asks me if I can remember the accident.
• [Crickets] - As I scan my life I see myself wandering the concrete halls of UVSC, a sub-woofer, Maddona's Ray of Light CD and dodging a stalker that can bench press 500 pounds.
• A chill of horror sweeps over me as I put it together that my body and my memories are over 13 years off.
• Shaking my fist I silently ask: how could God do this to me? Now I'm middle aged, out of shape and working with half a brain.
• The despair of the moment nearly overpowers me; and then I notice the doctor is crying. 
• "What's the matter?" I ask.
• She looks at me and says you don't remember me? 
• Taking a smug page out of Obi-wan's book I politely reply, "Should I have?" 
• She says with a smile: I'm your wife. 
• I laugh and say, "Seriously? You're joking. This isn't some sort of prank?"
• "Yes, that's the sick kind of hospital we run here" replies the disgusted nurse and I realize its no joke.
• That vision of those blue eyes and flowing blonde hair is still married to this? 
• But... my youth is gone. I probably now like music that teenagers despise. I bet that even though I suck at golf, I play it just for the greenery, peace and quiet. I follow politics, read the business section and prefer wheat bread or maybe none at all? I probably even sound like my father when I yell at my kids. 
• If I don't accept that she is my wife... HOW IN THE WORLD COULD I EVER FIND SOMEONE LIKE HER IN MY CURRENT CONDITION? 
• And then sunlight bursts through the window of the room, illuminating her hair as she waves it in the sunlight and it hits me. You don't have to worry about it. That's my woman! 
• Despite whatever I've become, I'm the luckiest man alive and I shout out FETCH YES!!! HAHA!!!
• I rip the oxygen and IVs out of my nose and arms, hop up and down on the hospital bed like Tom Cruise and cry for joy as I run around the recovery center with my gown flapping open behind me. 
• The nurse turns to The Boss and says, "its still not too late to have him committed." [and scene]

OK. That's a bit overblown and it condensed a feature length film to a 10 minute YouTube clip.

But this movie made me realize how much more I like and love my wife today than when I first met her. If I truly woke up, remembered nothing and spent just 15 minutes with her, I would know right then what I knew on my first date with her: This is the other half of my soul. Its why silence between us is comfortable and time alone in her presence seems to slip away. I might not recall everything our life was to that point, but that connection will always be there. And here is the thought that really made me happy. If she can become so much more beautiful, lovely and challenging in 13 years; how much more will I love her in 30 million! It may sound ridiculous in those terms, but I'm starting to see how our marriage for time and eternity is such a tremendous blessing beyond description.