The Creek*

On January 20, 1998, my life changed forever.

I turned on the WB and fell completely in love with a floppy haired, cargo short wearing, movie-loving, sappy, sappy, sappy boy named Dawson. He and, more importantly, a little show called Dawson's Creek.

I joke now that I used to watch it every week in high school and cry. Perhaps, and this is confession time, perhaps that isn't so far from the truth. I watched the show faithfully and related WAY. TOO. MUCH. to the characters and outlandish situations in which the characters found themselves. And maybe, just maybe, that resulted in some emoting.

I was a sophomore in high school when the show started -- the characters were sophomores. Like Joey Potter, I had a crush on my good guy friend, and he was clueless (well, he wasn't clueless in my case, just not reciprocating!). Like Dawson, I loved movies and wanted to move to Hollywood and make it big when I grew up. Unlike Pacey, I did not have an affair with my high school English teacher. I knew Andie McPhee was coming -- I had a feeling that the show was going to add a blonde girl into the regular rotation. I was bitter it couldn't have been me.

My friend Brandon and I watched the show week after week, sometimes over the phone and sometimes in person. He often taped the show for me if I couldn't watch it live. On a VHS. I have these VHS's floating around my parents' house; in an era before TiVo and DVR and Internet TV, this was the only way to catch those all-important shows.

This love transcended high school. In college, I remember coming home from watching an intense episode to find my roommate Heather sitting on her bed with a tear-streaked face. Dawson's dad had died in a most tragic way that evening. In what was one of the silliest ways to kill off a character, he had a car accident because, while driving, he reached down to retrieve a scoop of ice cream that fell off his ice cream cone. "Mitch died because of an ice cream cone!" Heather cried. "It's sooooo sad!"

I have met so many guys that have confessed, sometimes shamefully, a secret love for the show. So don't think that this passion is just a girl thing.

Brandon and I watched the series finale together, days before I left for a summer working in Florida.

Joey didn't end up with Dawson, and I was DEVASTATED. I was 20 years old and had lived for five years fostering the hope that my two characters were going to choose each other. We end with Joey picking freaking Pacey, and my dreams were crushed. (But let's be honest, Katie Holmes isn't known for her romantic choices, now, is she?)

I was fully and utterly invested in this series. I liked its silliness, its dirty talk, its movie shout outs -- my favorite occurs in season 1 when Pacey (Josh Jackson, who played Charlie in The Mighty Ducks) said, "No way! Emilio Estavez! He was in those Duck movies, remember? God, those were classics, so funny." (Side note: I have determined that I was so loyal to Dawson because I was still bitter at Josh Jackson for The Mighty Ducks, where I liked Adam Banks better.)

Tomorrow, the complete series comes out on DVD. I currently own each individual season. I watched a huge chunk of them when I first moved to Bloomington and had no cable.

So I have all the seasons.

But who doesn't need the COMPLETE set?!

I started quite a debate about this over on my facebook page the other day. I asked for help in convincing Hal that I needed the complete set. As for why Hal doesn't think I need this, I am unsure. He has seen at least one episode (because I forced him to watch the series finale on DVD with me) and he confessed to even liking it a little bit. On Facebook, I got 13 unique responses (Including one from Hal saying, "No. Call me dream killer."), 11 out of the 13 of them offering support for my buying this set.

In perhaps the best tip, my friend Megan (a different Megan than the skinny jeans opinionista) sent me a gorgeous picture. She said, "Not buying the set will make Dawson cry. Print this out and hang it all over the house to drive the point home with Hal!"

This is the picture she included:



What's a girl to do? I made it my Facebook profile picture.

I even have a call out to James Van Der Beek himself. I, ahem, follow him on Twitter, and I asked him for ideas on how to convince my husband that I needed both the complete set and the individual seasons. Currently, I have not heard back from Van Der Beek, but believe me, if I do, I will keep you all informed.

So what do you think? Does anyone else think fondly upon their days in Capeside? Anyone want to fight about the Joey/Pacey match?

You'll find me in the basement, sniffling and watching some reruns.

*Obviously, the title "The Creek" refers to the show that Dawson ends up making in Hollywood in the series finale. Seriously, I would watch it.