Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [P]

I was going to write this later, but I know that if I don't do it now, I'll never do it.
I went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with my family at the Riverview tonight, and the degree to which it connected with some of my recent conversations with Pat were kind of... distressing? Or at least just thought-provoking. (Now that's an original adjective!) About a week ago Pat and I were resting in his bed, when it came up that I wish I was born in Germany. This really bothered - almost offended - Patrick. He couldn't understand how I could wish for something like that if it meant I would have never met him. I told him the truth: that I would not miss him, and that I would find love just as easily elsewhere. I am very happy to have found him, but I don't believe I was "lucky". In life one finds love. (I didn't think of this at the time, but just think of the thousands of loves I have never met by being born in St. Paul rather than Frankfurt, Tokyo, New Delhi, Los Angeles, Paris, Edingen-Neckarhausen, Wien, Moscow, London, Rio de Janeiro, Brainerd...)
OK, maybe this doesn't parallel the movie as much as I said it did, but it still made the movie mean more to me than it would have otherwise. What exactly does one lose when they lose their memories? Do one's memories justify one's past? Do they justify one's future? How does one go about keeping painful memories sacred? And, for the risk of needing my Ativan, if this is indeed our only life (vs. reincarnation) and death consists of oblivion, did we ever exist at all?
God, I sound like a cross between a philosophy major and a fortune cookie. ><;

I think I'm going to ask Patrick to see the movie with me tomorrow...

P.S. Why aren't the posting options on Semagic showing up? *stabs Semagic, then moves to the online editor*

Ladino

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3147023