A Few of My Favorite Things: Jim and Pam

The next installment in my Favorite Things

feature is one I'm sure I share with many: for someone who is already a lover of love, there's no rival to the tender, amusing, suspenseful, and oh-so-similar-to-my-actual-life Jim and Pam (or Jam, or PB & J). I've seen every episode of the Office at least three times, but I was a late-comer and watched most of them online or on DVD except for the newest season, so I didn't really have to deal with the years of suspense everyone else went through with Jim and Pam, and I already knew that they were together when I started watching from Season One. But none of these things matter. What matters is that this is one of the sweetest and most realistic love stories I've ever seen, and that I'm a little obsessed. One of my favorite things in the world to do is watch Youtube videos of romantic, or, if they were made pre-season 3 finale, angsty and longing-filled songs set to Jim and Pam montages. Here are some of my favorites:

1. I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You, by Colin Hay

Such a sweet song. And so fitting. "I drink good coffee every morning, comes from a place that's far away. When I'm done I feel like talking, without you here there is less to say." Perfect.

2. What About Now, by Daughtry

This one's from Pam's p.o.v. Karma for sure. (Who could turn down a kiss from Jim???)

3. Open Your Eyes, by Snow Patrol

This has the added benefit of already being one of my favorite songs, so how much more perfect does it get? Not much, if you ask me. Also, to keep things balanced, it's from Jim's p.o.v. "Every minute from this minute now, we can do what we like anywhere. I want so much to open your eyes, cause I need you to look into mine."

and, to end the angst, the best one when they're finally together:

4. 1, 2, 3, 4 by The Plain White T's

This is probably my all-time favorite, as it includes some of the best moments from their Just-Friends Limbo days, like the teapot in Christmas Party, Casino Night, obviously; but it also has all the best ones from their relationship, from the first time he asks her to dinner in The Job, his proposal in Weight Loss, and of course most recently to when Pam finds out she's pregnant in Company Picnic!

Wow, definitely should have spoiler-alerted the shit out of this post.

Part of my obsession with Jim and Pam stems not from the perspective of a crazed fan who can't keep reality and sitcom fiction straight, but from the fact that I am all-too familiar with the Best Friends Who Don't Seem Like They'll Ever Get Together saga, since that was L.'s and my situation for a year and a half before we finally took the plunge. I think what I like best about Jim and Pam is that the writers were able to contain themselves long enough to make the anticipation last for three whole seasons before finally giving them the right place and the right time. Doesn't that reflect life? The best relationships (totally my opinion--not to issue a death sentence for relationships that don't follow this pattern) are the ones in which, initially, one person can't have the other. Or both persons can't have each other. A year or two of unrequited love, missed chances, or not-the-right-place-or-time circumstances never killed anyone. At least, I hope it hasn't. I can totally see how it could. It makes you value the relationship more when you finally have it. Like, every time you take your relationship for granted, you can just think to yourself, "hey, remember those six months that I was in love with L., and he turned me down at first, and then thought I had gotten over him, and we continued to cuddle and spend weekend nights together and it was torture?" (Okay, that might just be me.) Of course, you can also fall into the trap of constantly reminding (in a half-joking manner) your other half of "that time you turned your cheek when I tried to kiss you" (infamous move by L.) or, for Jim and Pam, I guess it'd be "that time I told you I was in love with you on Casino Night and you said you were still getting married." Or, "that time you went to Stamford and started dating someone else after I broke off my engagement." It's always better if your relationship has many unrequited moments so that both people can simultaneously experience the sheepish guilt but not take one another for granted, i.e., "that time I had feelings for you when I first met you and you were dating someone else, and then you broke up with him but started hooking up with other guys and lay in my bed at night complaining about them and I couldn't say anything." (That would be L. to me.) Yup, we've definitely had a lot of missed chances and unrequited desire through the course of our two-year friendship. But it's gotten all of the would-be relationship drama out of our system. Sure, we had a rocky (read: tortorous, confusing) start, but we also have one of the most carefree, and more importantly conflict-free, relationships I think I've ever witnessed.

There are a lot of those kinds of parallels between the fictional relationship between Jim and Pam and between me and L., my "Real Life Jim Halpert," if you will. I mean, he hasn't proposed to me in front of a gas station yet, but otherwise. I guess what I'm trying to say, in a totally modest, humble, and non-overly-enthusiastic way (okayy, I'm in love, I'm sorry!), that Jim and Pam don't just have to exist in a hilarious, well-written, Emmy-winning tv show! I think it's actually shockingly easy to fall in love with your best friend out of the blue. I also think that my situation has to be more common. In fact, I know it is, because all the time I'm finding posts on FML that read somewhere along the lines of "Today, I told my best friend I loved him, and he gave me the cheek" (okay, maybe not that specific to my situation). I get a kick out of sending them to L. Just to remind him where we came from.

I can't wait to see what happens next with Jim and Pam! Thursday, September 17th!

[Update: Inspired, trying to convince L. to be Jim and Pam with me for Halloween. Best idea ever!]

[Images from EW, annie.in.mn, a fellow Jim and Pam lover, Videos from Youtube]