I didn’t want to pick it up and look at it, just in case those days were further away still and I felt even older. The stall holder suddenly spoke ‘It’s a classic.’ ‘I know,’ I replied, not looking up. ‘I haven’t seen this for years.’ I was practically wiping the dust of the cover. ‘I’ll take it.’
A week later, at home, in the house that I now own, filled with furniture and things that I have gathered around my side over the decades, and my teenage son upstairs in his own world, I sat down to watch the film again.
It seemed dated, yes, but those heady innocent days and nights came rolling back and I wondered if it was actually worth growing away from in the first place. But that’s the nature of the beast. Your best years are the ones you have first and they ones who spend the rest of your life looking back on, wishing they weren’t so far away in the past. The cruelty of life. But there is one thing I am very proud of in my middle age alongside my adolescent son, is that I allowed American Graffiti into my life when it meant the world.
I sit alongside my husband who had never seen it before, and I am proud. Not because of him, but because I let AG in when it mattered the most. Now I can watch this genius collection of youth, dreams and hopes, and say yes. I was there too.
Watch the original American Graffiti movie trailer here.
For more information on the film, click American Graffiti
We also suggest Paul le Mat's Website too for memorabilia!