A Message From Adrien

I read the blog religiously - okay, that's a lie, sometimes I get online every three days or so, but the Bruiser blog IS one of my favorite online "dailies" ...were you a writer in a past life?

Anyway, the last blog touched me because I too was touched by the story. It grew on me the more we worked on it. I originally was attracted to the story because of the references to the military; growing up in Hawaii meant I made alot of friends from military families as a child, and, they always moved away. That was just a part of life. This turned into boyfriends who were children in these military families... they always moved away, and eerily enough, sometimes lived in the same neighborhoods, but at different times. I've run around on the roof of Tripler Hospital... As a child of a single parent, I was eligible to have a Big Sis of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu, and two of them were military, and moved away. My father came to the islands as a nineteen year old in the army. Anyway, boyfriends who were children of military families evolved into... me, a college age student dating sweet but stupid military guys I met at clubs, and of course, them moving away, promising sweet things if I moved with them. And I made a decision to never date a military guy because I knew I could never live the lifestyle if I married one. One of my sisters married a WestPoint Officer. She and her four babes are moved all over this earth and she often feels like a single parent for six months at a time. I see this also with one of my best friends, and she is actually homeschooling her three kids when her husband is gone for six months at a time, and she has to deal with bureaucratic crap all the time with Tripler (Cripler!) because of health problems.

I know the military is not the main focus of the story but I don't think enough Americans know that there is a military presence in Hawaii. And they think we run around barefoot, don't have American currency or running water, that girls wear coconut bras and that we have a king or something.

The other thing that drew me to the story was the love story part. I once cold turkey left my (now ex) husband on the island of Kauai where we lived to come home, because he did stuff like grab me by the head and try to smash my head into glass sliding doors or car windows... so I could understand part of someone wanting happiness and taking it, even in the form of an "old flame," against what anyone and everyone deemed appropriate. And I think to this day that some of the most effective love stories in film are the ones that don't resort to graphic physical intimacy to get the idea across. Something I saw as able to be accomplished when I read your script.

Seeing the stills gave me chills. Those lucky board directors who got to see a rough cut! While I just get to get goosebumps clicking on fotki. Visually, my favorite is where Jeff has Adrien's hair across his face after the secret... I like Leah dressed in black at the fence, too.

I could go on and on. There are so many things about this story I think could really speak to alot of people. Just thought I'd share a few of mine.

I was gonna post this on the blog but didn't know how much references to the story you are allowed online. You can share it if you want.

I just wanted to say we believe in you. I say we because I know I'm not the only one.