Growing up in Pennsylvania (Even though my Philadelphia suburb is no where near Gobbler’s Knob) I’ve always had a warm spot in my heart for the wacky little “holiday” of Groundhog Day. I even had a stuffed groundhog at one point.

I remember being 14 and going to the movie theater to see “Groundhog Day”.  I had no idea what it was about, my sister and I were just bored and the title appealed to me.  I LOVED it.  It was just the combination of comedy and sci-fi that I loved.  Afterward, I remember my sister telling my mother that it was weird.  I agreed with her, but to me this wasn’t a dismissive statement.  I wanted to talk about it. The critics had loved it, but it hadn’t done so well in the teenage girl demographic. None of my friends had seen it, I had no one to discuss it with.

I found a kindred spirit in Super-Dad, he loved the movie as much as I had.  We spent one of our early dates watching the movie and talking about it.  How long had Phil repeated that day?  Why did it happen?  What was the magic moment that changed it for him?

About a month ago we played the movie for Nate.  He thought it was great.  At ten years old he guessed that Phil had spent “a few years” in his Groundhog Day stasis.  

How long do you think Phil repeated that day?  He learned french, became a piano virtuoso, planned the perfect crime, tried a bunch of different ways to commit suicide and essentially earned a medical degree.  Our best guess is hundreds and hundreds of years.

Happy Groundhog Day!