My Short-Lived Career as a Stalker

An akward silence came from the other side of the shower curtain. Jim, the husband, had just asked what the kids and I had going that had me up and in the shower at 7:15. Don’t get me wrong—I bathe—but as a work at home mom, it’s usually not that early in the morning. I tend to sort of roll out of bed, plop down at the computer in my jammies for a few hours and then, shower before the kids and I head out for the day.


“Well, a few of us are meeting at Mary’s* house and then we’re…”

“Going stalking?” he questioned.

Damn—pegged again. “Yes.”

The stalking in question is really just heading down to the main street in our village to watch film actor Ryan Gosling “rob” our local bank—over and over and over again—and maybe catch a glimpse of Bradley Cooper.

In my defense, I have been a fan of Bradley Cooper’s ever since he played a lovelorn journalist opposite Jennifer Garner on my still-favorite, though no longer on, kick ass show Alias. And while I’m not a big Nicholas Sparks fan, as a female with a pulse, if you have ever seen The Notebook and witnessed *THE* kiss, it’s impossible not to be a fan of Ryan Gosling.

The fact that these two actors are in my town, filming scenes moments from my home—at the local bank, and the place where I get my soft serve and on the cross road between my house and the highway—has made me a little crazy.

Define crazy? Crazy is trolling Facebook even more frequently than I normally do to see if I can get some scoop on when and where shooting will happen …IM’ing back and forth with other moms like a 15-year-old passing notes in study hall…and taking detours past the current “hot set,” to see what I can see, nearly every time I leave my home. I even “liked” Gosling on Facebook so I could find out what he thinks of our little town.

Every time I circle around the filming location, I vow I won’t do it again—it takes up too much time, it’s usually out of my way and it just doesn’t make sense. What am I really going to see? And regardless of what I see, will it have any impact on the larger picture of my life?

I can’t keep doing this. Filming is going to go on for at least another month and I can’t keep being distracted this way. I have articles to write and photos to edit and kids to feed.  So I’ve given up my short-lived career as a stalker. Sometimes you just have to go cold turkey, and that's what I plan on doing.…at least until shooting starts again on Monday.

*Name has been changed to protect the somewhat innocent;-)