Over the weekend, I watched “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” for the first time. I’ve had a few friends tell me over the past few years to watch this movie because I would be able to relate to it. I always thought they were foolish to think so, because after all, I’m not Greek! I decided to finally go ahead and try it out this weekend, since I was bored and stuff. Lo and behold, I quickly realized what my friends were talking about. This movie is simply my life movie.

If you replace the little details in the movie, like from “Greek” to “Vietnamese,” and the little customs and traditions Tula’s family has to the little traditions my family has, and switch the roles of Tula’s parents around to get my parents, you’ll see my family and my marriage to Dave as an exact mirror to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. However, these types of movies have a way of twisting something that can be lifetime devastating into something that’s comical and endearing. The movie has a happy ending, where Tula and her new non-Greek husband move in next door, and they live happily ever after, and her family learns to accept everything non-Greek and all that lovable wonderful stuff. I’m not sure my parents would ever be that accepting of me.

I remember the line Tula’s dad said, “I just want her to be happy.” It’s the exact same line my dad gave Dave. I don’t really understand when parents do everything they can to screw up their children’s lives and then give the reasoning, “I just want her to be happy.” Are we talking about “forms” of happiness, or are we talking about true happiness no matter what its form?

There was another line that really touched me, when Tula’s mother said to her, “The men may be the head of the house but the women are the neck and they can turn the head any way they want.” There is power in the female sacred.

I ended up laughing, and crying, and gasping with disbelief while I was watching the movie. I can’t believe my life can be summed up so perfectly and precisely in a 2-hour movie.