THE STRAIGHT DOPE
SEX AND THE CITY
by N
When we left the ladies of Sex and the City, Charlotte was happily married a second time to Harry and announced the coming of their new family edition; a daughter. Miranda had finally become happy giving into her two worst fears; relinquishing total relationship control with Steve and moving to Brooklyn. Samantha, the show’s resident sexpert, had overcome breast cancer and realized what love truly was with her man-friend, Smith.
And last but not least, we had Carrie Bradshaw. Audiences watched as we thought she had made the biggest mistake of all, moving for the man she “loved” to follow his dreams. Carrie had been carried away! Or so we thought, until the final scene when Big, or John as we all know now, sweeps Carrie off her Manolo’s and back to the Big Apple. Was this it for Sex and the City?
The last episode ended on February 22, 2004; the day before my 23rd birthday. This was an influential time in my life. I had unwillingly just moved from the city to the country. I was in an emotionally vacant and sexless marriage of two years and was living a life I knew was not mine. My life was a daze. So as I watched the last episode, I started thinking. If this was it for the Sex and the City ladies, was this it for me to?
I won’t lie and tell you that the culmination of Sex and the City changed my life forever that night, but it did set into course a series of extremely deep personal questions. I wanted to know who I was. I was only 23 and I knew I hadn’t known. What I did know was that part of me wanted to be like Charlotte. I wanted have the uncomplicated happy marriage/relationship and be financially secure. Another part of me wanted to be like Samantha, free, fabulous, and an avid participant in raunchy sexcapades. I also wanted to be Miranda, a smart ass, witty, and successful career woman. I even wanted to be Carrie; a woman who was eccentric, a bit jaded by love, a fashionista, and a dreamer.
I missed MY life, wherever or whatever it was. Sex and the City was all I had and it was over. I could no longer go on living vicariously through the television show. So, I decided to do something about it.
While I was watching a rerun of an episode, I heard Carrie say,
“As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a gal will find herself a little lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the coulda, shoulda, woulda, buckle up and just keep going.”
I thought this was great! This was what I needed; a push. I know what you’re thinking; a push from a television character? Yes, but in my defense, I was desperate. I decided to do the unthinkable and leave my marriage. Marriage was hard. Not the same “hard” as in, “I can do this if I try.” Hard as in, “Is this worth it?” I always thought marriage was suppose to be easy; especially looking at my parents, at the time, 25 year long marriage. I knew now it wasn’t.
I was confused and alone. I moved out and started the divorce process. I was lonely. All of my girlfriends had boyfriends, were consumed by college requirements, or had their own mid-twenties drama. I decided to turn to cheap red wine and my DVD collection of the Sex and the City television show. That’s all I had that I felt would cure what I was feeling. Not a great plan but a plan.
Over the next four years, I would laugh and cry with those four women. They were my fictional breakup buddies. I would date, have sex, breakup, have trouble with finances, start new jobs, move to new cities, start new friendships, learn to live alone; find myself.
I have to say, I did find myself. I have a successful job like Miranda, a great sex life like Samantha, the hope of a great second marriage like Charlotte, and the possibility of finding my one true love in the Big Apple like Carrie. As we know it’s not the end for the women of Sex and the City, with the movie version coming out on May 30th, and it’s definitely not the end for me.
SEX AND THE CITY
by N
When we left the ladies of Sex and the City, Charlotte was happily married a second time to Harry and announced the coming of their new family edition; a daughter. Miranda had finally become happy giving into her two worst fears; relinquishing total relationship control with Steve and moving to Brooklyn. Samantha, the show’s resident sexpert, had overcome breast cancer and realized what love truly was with her man-friend, Smith.
And last but not least, we had Carrie Bradshaw. Audiences watched as we thought she had made the biggest mistake of all, moving for the man she “loved” to follow his dreams. Carrie had been carried away! Or so we thought, until the final scene when Big, or John as we all know now, sweeps Carrie off her Manolo’s and back to the Big Apple. Was this it for Sex and the City?
The last episode ended on February 22, 2004; the day before my 23rd birthday. This was an influential time in my life. I had unwillingly just moved from the city to the country. I was in an emotionally vacant and sexless marriage of two years and was living a life I knew was not mine. My life was a daze. So as I watched the last episode, I started thinking. If this was it for the Sex and the City ladies, was this it for me to?
I won’t lie and tell you that the culmination of Sex and the City changed my life forever that night, but it did set into course a series of extremely deep personal questions. I wanted to know who I was. I was only 23 and I knew I hadn’t known. What I did know was that part of me wanted to be like Charlotte. I wanted have the uncomplicated happy marriage/relationship and be financially secure. Another part of me wanted to be like Samantha, free, fabulous, and an avid participant in raunchy sexcapades. I also wanted to be Miranda, a smart ass, witty, and successful career woman. I even wanted to be Carrie; a woman who was eccentric, a bit jaded by love, a fashionista, and a dreamer.
I missed MY life, wherever or whatever it was. Sex and the City was all I had and it was over. I could no longer go on living vicariously through the television show. So, I decided to do something about it.
While I was watching a rerun of an episode, I heard Carrie say,
“As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a gal will find herself a little lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the coulda, shoulda, woulda, buckle up and just keep going.”
I thought this was great! This was what I needed; a push. I know what you’re thinking; a push from a television character? Yes, but in my defense, I was desperate. I decided to do the unthinkable and leave my marriage. Marriage was hard. Not the same “hard” as in, “I can do this if I try.” Hard as in, “Is this worth it?” I always thought marriage was suppose to be easy; especially looking at my parents, at the time, 25 year long marriage. I knew now it wasn’t.
I was confused and alone. I moved out and started the divorce process. I was lonely. All of my girlfriends had boyfriends, were consumed by college requirements, or had their own mid-twenties drama. I decided to turn to cheap red wine and my DVD collection of the Sex and the City television show. That’s all I had that I felt would cure what I was feeling. Not a great plan but a plan.
Over the next four years, I would laugh and cry with those four women. They were my fictional breakup buddies. I would date, have sex, breakup, have trouble with finances, start new jobs, move to new cities, start new friendships, learn to live alone; find myself.
I have to say, I did find myself. I have a successful job like Miranda, a great sex life like Samantha, the hope of a great second marriage like Charlotte, and the possibility of finding my one true love in the Big Apple like Carrie. As we know it’s not the end for the women of Sex and the City, with the movie version coming out on May 30th, and it’s definitely not the end for me.
posted by Malik Isasis at
12:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home