The first time was the night before the wedding of Dori and Larry (two of my best friends, for those of you don't know). I was one of three ushers (my best friend Andy was another) and we were spending the night in a hotel before the magic day. As we were getting ready to go to sleep, we were watching the news, just when we were about to turn off the TV, they announced "coming up next, the all-time classic, Casablanca". Since it had been a while since I had seen it, I decided to keep the TV on and watch the film. Andy on the otherhand, had NEVER seen Casablanca. He originally planned to watch parts of the film and fall asleep...it didn't work. Both of us stayed up until the very end (pretty good considering the LA station had all sorts of commercials). Anyway, I didn't think anything of this until...

The second time, which occured before the wedding of Cim and Sharon (friends from Cal), I was getting ready to go to sleep; I was switching channels and paused on KQED, and boom, Sedge Thompson says "coming up next is Casablanca". So I stayed up and watched it. I thought it was kind of funny, since the last wedding I had been to before this was Dori and Larry's, and here it was, the night before another wedding, and Casablanca was on again.

I thought, "what a coincidence"...but then came the next wedding, which was of a co-worker named Claire...and once again, the night before, Casablanca was on, and I caught it by accident.

You know how they say that "these things always happen in threes." Well, since that time my cousin Roy married, Leo and Lisa married, and last year, my little brother got married. I did NOT catch Casablanca on TV before these weddings.

Now we come to tonight. I have two friends getting married tomorrow, and I'm at home trying to decide what I'm going to do for the evening. I start surfing the channels, and catch the host of Turner Classic Movies announcing the next movie...which, as you have probably guessed was Casablanca. Of course I had to watch.

Now, if this happens before the next wedding I attend, I'll really wonder.

Here's looking at you kids,
Sean