Last Friday, Patrick and I went to the grand opening of the Warner Bros. Theater at the National Museum of American History. We dined on Moroccan hors d’ oeuvres, watched Casablanca and heard Stephen Bogart reminisce about his father, Humphrey Bogart. Patrick wore a tie and a nice gray sports-coat and I wore a new blue dress (which incidentally matched one worn by Malia Obama in a White  House photo). But the best dressed attendee was the film itself, which sported a restored and re-mastered look. It was captivating.

I’ve seen the movie a few times. I watched it at a younger age and disliked Ilsa for lying to Rick when they left Paris and disliked her even more for meeting Rick in his apartment while her husband risked his life attending an underground meeting against the Nazis. I found it terribly frustrating that she would need Rick to think for her in the end. Couldn’t she decide right from wrong for herself?

However, watching it with a few more years of life under my belt, I let go of the unforgiving moral compass I once held and appreciated the gray areas, poor timing and misunderstandings. Life is full of miscommunication.

The movie, of course, stayed the same. But I continued to change and somehow the film felt like it changed along with me.

Here’s lookin’ at you, kid. I suppose you’re growing up.

Posted, by Lori in Thorny Rose.