I’ve been home sick (again) these past couple days, this time with the stomach flu or food poisoning or something equally miserable. Yesterday was pretty bad. I woke up after a night of toilet-hugging and thought for a moment that I could actually function in real life. Knowing that I had about six million things on my to-do list, I tried pep-talking myself out of bed. “OK, Michelle, just lift off the covers. One, two, three. Go team!” But while my brain said yes, my body said oh, hell no. I instead tweeted my agony and my Twitter friends said I needed to stay home and rest. And Twitter is ALWAYS right.
I was able to muster up enough strength and walk downstairs to the living room and collapse on the couch there. The one perk of weekday sickness is bad TV. I flipped through the channels and landed on a “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ marathon. Yessss.
You guys, I watched like 10 episodes in a row. That statement right there is more legit than a doctor’s note. I was really, really sick.
They were doing this whole retrospective thing because the very last Jon & Kate episode would air later that night. Gosh, it was the cutest, happiest show back in its early days, wasn’t it? Kate with her crazy and Jon with his sarcasm and the kids with their quarter-Asian adorableness — it was all so endearing. They were Just Like Us.
But of course, we all know how their story unfolds.
So I had to watch the final episode just because I had invested so much of my day into this mindlessness. Unsurprisingly, it was a train wreck. So much tension. So much hate.
Sigh.
Why can’t they just love each other?
I spent the rest of the night being mad at Jon, thinking things like: How can you eff up your family like that? You’re not “only 32.” You’re already 32! Man up! And come on, just stop with the Ed Hardy, will ya?
I get way too emotionally involved in celebrity couple breakups, particularly married couple breakups. When Brad and Jen split, I was devastated. When Nick and Jessica called it quits, I cried (and am still holding onto hope that they’ll maaaaaaybe one day get back together).
It all makes me so sad. And it makes me think about marriage. (It’s kinda sad that this is what finally gets me thinking about marriage, but whatever.)
Why didn’t these couples last? What went wrong? Could it have been prevented? What would they have done differently?
When they were engaged and planning their weddings, I’m sure she thought, “I’m in love and he’s The One and OF COURSE this is forever.” I’m sure he drove over to her house on a Monday night just to pet her head when she was sick with the stomach flu.
What makes their relationship so much different than ours?
(Let’s hope it’s fame and beauty and fortune, cuz we’ve got none of that.)
10 responses so far ↓
1 thatShortChick // Nov 25, 2009 at 8:54 am
that’s exactly how I felt when I kept hearing him say “I’m only 32.”
No, Jon, you are 32 years old, so act like a grown a** man already.
I hope you’re feeling better!!
2 Sensibly Sassy // Nov 25, 2009 at 10:26 am
First off feel better soon! That sounds miserable :( And that is a good question about how it can go from happy to dismal…unfortch I don’t have an answer either. And that last episode was just so sad, I couldn’t watch the whole thing.
3 katelin // Nov 25, 2009 at 12:11 pm
aw man feel better, being that sick is never fun.
and i used to be such a jk8 fan but like you said, it’s just so sad and ugh. let’s hope neither of us end up like any of those hollywood couples.
4 jeanette // Nov 25, 2009 at 12:35 pm
i’m just like you- i get soooo sad over celebrity breakups, particularly jon + kate’s because i love their kids and they’re too cute to have parents who aren’t together anymore…right? jk hope you feel better soon! :)
5 Jamie // Nov 26, 2009 at 8:01 am
I loved JK+8. They were all so cute and now it’s just a mess. I’m sad it’s over because regardless of the doucheness that is their parents, the kids are ADORABLE.
Feel better soon. xoxo
6 andhari // Nov 26, 2009 at 10:37 am
I don’t watch Jon & Kate anymore, it got so depressing and seeing both of them made me mad/ Especially Jon Gosselin. Poor kids, seriously.
7 nicoleantoinette // Nov 27, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Sometimes I feel like a big giant loser for not watching the shows that everyone else seems to be talking about. And then I read this and realize I’d be just as crazy as you about it all, and I’m totally thankful.
Feel better honey pie!
8 Kristan // Nov 29, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I don’t watch any of those shows so I can’t speak to them specifically, but I do think being in the spotlight has to put a serious strain on people and on relationships.
What makes them different from any of us? Well, a lot of things, since we’re all individuals.
Is the divorce rate high? Yes. But is that opening our eyes to how much effort a marriage can take? Yes. And isn’t knowing half the battle? Yes.
So maybe I’m a hopeless romantic, but I believe that being aware of the difficult odds means we’re more likely to overcome them. :)
9 Kristan // Nov 29, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Hmm, maybe not more likely. More empowered.
10 wishcake // Dec 13, 2009 at 9:50 am
I’m totally with you on being so emotionally invested in celebrity couples. You should have seen my happy dance when Pink and her hubby got back together after being separated. You’d think they were my BFF or something, right?
I think that selfishness is the thing that leads to so many of these marriages going up in flames. Especially in reality shows, you know that they are all surrounded by people telling them what to do and how to do it and what would make them more interesting and what sells and what doesn’t sell and on and on and on.
I think that it’s human nature to get swept up in it a little. And that’s why it’s almost always destructive when people go from being an average joe to being a household name. They start putting themselves first and stop thinking of their family as one entity. I could see that happening with both Jon AND Kate. They started sacrificing different parts of their marriage/family-time/parenting in order to have some sort of personal gain.
It sucks. And I wish they would have just stopped the stupid show the MINUTE they realized their family was suffering AT ALL because of it. (Especially with the twins…I mean, really. Even I can see how the cameras effected them. Did you see the last eposide when Jon was being a total douche to them? I wanted to punch him in the mouth.)
Phew. Long comment. Bleh.
In any case, I think that as long as a couple continues to always put each other first, then you can never fail. That’s how I see it, at least. In this selfish culture it’s a difficult thing to do…but it’s just what you have to do.
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