Lovesick

I spent the Day of Love yesterday at home, sick in bed. Luckily, it was nothing more than a bad cold, and I spent the entire first half of the day asleep.

When I finally awoke, I stayed in bed and watched two movies, both of which I can heartily recommend. The first is the 1999 Masterpiece Theatre version of the classic Charles Dickens tale David Copperfield. This three-hour adaptation is broken into two parts. The first part, where David is a boy, features Daniel Radcliffe playing David. Radcliffe, as you probably know, went on to much greater fame playing Harry Potter on the big screen.

The movie is wonderful, mainly for the fine acting of the supporting characters. Maggie Smith, another Harry Potter alum, plays Betsy Trotwood, and Ian McKellum, who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies, does a perfect job as the cruel schoolteacher Creakle. Bob Hoskins, one of my favorite actors, does a fine job as Mr. Micawber. I will say that the guy who played the grown-up David Copperfield was rather bland, but all of the great supporting turns made up for his somewhat by-the-numbers performance. Highly recommended.

After watching David Copperfield, I saw a highly rated "chick flick" romance I'd been wanting to see for some time, Love Comes Softly. This is based on the book of the same name by Christian fiction author Jannette Oke. It's a quiet, gentle movie set during pioneer days when families were going west in covered wagons to settle the plains. Katherine Heigl, who plays on the TV series "Grey's Anatomy," which I've never watched, is excellent in the leading female role. She plays a young woman who comes west with her new husband, only to lose him during the journey to a freak accident. A widowed farmer makes her an offer to marry him and watch over his young tomboy daughter until the spring, when he'll then pay her passage back east to her home. She accepts, and the movie is about how this woman comes to learn to "bloom where she's planted" and follow God's sometimes unexpected leadings.

Like I said, this movie is considered a "chick flick," but I enjoyed it. There's a sequel titled Love's Enduring Promise which features the same family years later getting eaten alive by a pack of wolves. Just kidding. I want to watch this one as well.

Speaking of "chick flicks," I am in the middle of one of the classics of "chick lit," namely, Little Women. It's a quiet little book, full of grace and class, and though I could see why some might consider it dated in its portrayal of women, I am enjoying it for its spirit and its strong Christian undercurrent.

I'm back at work today, even though the medicine I'm taking makes it hard to stay awake. I'm happy to report that my daughter's basketball team won their first game last night, and my daughter scored the winning basket. She was so happy, it made my feelings of fatigue and illness just melt away. And Mrs. Muley gave me a sweet card and a nice new shirt I really like. A great way to end Valentines' Day.

How was your day?