Forever My Girl, in theaters 1/19, a second chance at date night

This is a sponsored post. All thoughts are our own. Forever My Girl is a new film arriving in theaters on January 19. If you’re behind quota on date night and looking for a sign, this is it. Forever My Girl looks like the kind of film that is squarely aimed at the country music crowd who arrived at movie theaters through the romantic isle. Watching the trailer for this brings to mind how thankful we are to not be in the dating game.

The story of Forever My Girl is about a country music star who has gone on to become successful and his subsequent return home. It turns out that when he left ten years ago he left a bride-to-be, as well as, his child, that he didn’t know about. This is the story about coming home, changes, second chances and a great excuse to have that date night that you know you need to have.

For us, we’re thankful not to be dating in the time of social media. Just watching the headaches and tension that our nieces experience with dating is maddening and makes us glad to be happily approaching middle age.

If there are any pearls of wisdom that a happily married guy can  pass on to those who need a great date night to smooth things over in their singleton life it’s that it just doesn’t matter and be here now.

It doesn’t matter

Not to channel Bill Murray in Caddyshack, but, It Just doesn’t matter. There is a truth to life and that you’ll never be as pretty as you are right now. The caveat to that is, unless you’re under 25, and that caveat is then, that you don’t have the life experience to know great things from good things, in addition to actually knowing what really matters.

For some people this is a moving target. I didn’t really figure things out until I was in my mid-30s, and even then it was shaped like Robert Patrick in T2. Spoiler alert: it kept changing.

Big hooey if you don’t check your status for 12 hours, tag someone in photo X or video that thing from the happening that will supposedly never happen again. People matter, and that filler that you think matters will be forgotten.

Be here now

Have you ever seen a concert on YouTube that was filmed in Japan? It looks like it was filmed decades ago because nobody, literally no one is filming it with their smart phones. It’s not that smart phones are prolific in Japan, they are everywhere, but partially due to manners and an awareness of their public space, people aren’t documenting every scene of their life.

It’s all very Buddhaesque, be here now. To parents and families it’s also very much the scene of the dinner table, but just put the phones down. There’s a fabulous sunset. There’s a deer in the forest. There’s something that is actually happening that is infinitely more interesting than the benign fluff that you’re tempted to look at on your phone.

Maybe it’s a groovy date night movie, stray cat that needs to be rescued, hug that needs to be given to your significant other. Whatever it is, just try to have a big picture idea of what matters and what’s cool, especially if you’re dating.

Forever My Girl opens in theaters on January 19  and is rated PG for thematic elements and language.