“Jonathan Trager, prominent television producer for ESPN, died last night from complications of losing his soul mate and his fiancee. He was 35 years old. Soft-spoken and obsessive, Trager never looked the part of a hopeless romantic. But, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the Agatha Christie-like pursuit of his long reputed soul mate, a woman whom he only spent a few precious hours with. Sadly, the protracted search ended late Saturday night in complete and utter failure. Yet even in certain defeat, the courageous Trager secretly clung to the belief that life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of his dear friend, Dean Kansky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of the New York Times, described Jonathan as a changed man in the last days of his life. “Things were clearer for him,” Kansky noted. Ultimately Jonathan concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call “fatum”, what we currently refer to as destiny.”
-Serendipity (2001)
Setting the mood is key in any proposal and nothing screams romance like dozens of candles and roses. Pale pink and yellow rose pedals sway through the floor as Sarah Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) makes her way into her home to find almost a life sized gift box with a red ribbon and a note that says, “open me.” As she frantically opens the box, she finds a series of boxes diminishing in size until she opens the very last box, a tiny black suede ring box. Slowly opening it, she looks around and finds her boyfriend (John Corbett) entering the room holding a diamond ring as he whispers, “You got to say yes first.”