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Popular Culture Review
Kim berly: I just think it’s fate. It was just meant to be.
For Jodi and Jason, an eerie luck seems to be the controlling agent. Jodi met
her husband-to-be through JDate.com, an internet dating service for Jewish singles.
What attracted Jodi initially to Jason’s profile was that he was from Montreal,
where she had worked for a year. With that in common, Jodi contacted Jason for
his phone number. But what started with a simple call quickly blossomed one
night when they were given a “spooky” surprise:
Jodi: So I [got his number and] called him and that was it. We were on
the phone and we were just starting to get to know each other and he
asked me where I lived.
Jason: Because either of us could be anywhere in the, you know, 410
area code.
Jodi: And I said, “Do you know where Pickwick is?”
Jason: So I said, “Yes I know where Pickwick is. I live in Pickwick.”
Jodi: “I live in Falstaff Manor.” He says, “I can see Falstaff Manor from
my window!”
Jason: And so I looked out the window and there’s the Falstaff Manor. So
here is Jodi, calling me, literally, from across the street.
Jodi: And it’s just really surprising because in all of Baltimore, it turns
out we lived right across the street from each other. It was really spooky.
Lucky coincidences, strange happenings, or just an instant attraction were
frequently cast by A Wedding Story participants as indicators that they were “meant”
to be. The skeptical viewer, of course can construct alternative narratives out of the
same biographical experiences. “It’s just plain-old random coincidence,” one plotline
might hold. Another more sociologically informed (but boring) tale might high
light similarities in age, race, economic status, and other traits that make it less
surprising that two individuals would “somehow” form a union. Personally, we
were inclined to imagine how participants might portray their past relationships if
they were to divorce someday: “I met my ex through the internet—and that should
tell you something! What a mistake. We happened to live next across the street
from each other, so just we kind of fell into a relationship that took the best years
of my life.“ But these sorts of explanations make for less romantic stories, even
though they could arguably be just as real as the “Love as Destiny” interpretation.
Theme 2: Love is fo r a unique and special person
A related but distinct theme that cut through many of the A Wedding Story
narratives was the idea “My spouse is the one for me.” Participants in the program