thoughts on dear john

It certainly is a love story as well.... Only, John's love for Savannah is the true beauty of it... Because Savannah breaks his heart by sending him an actual Dear John letter while he's far from home defending his country..

She marries their mutual friend Tim who has an autistic son to help take care of Tim who is dying of cancer and to raise his sweet little boy. I felt that she didn't have to marry Tim to do those things... She could have cared for Tim as a friend and taken care of his son no matter what. But even so, that is the twist the plot took and while John relied on her letters while he was at war, to get him through each day... she stopped writing him for two months before she sent him the letter that broke his heart. After that, John continues to re-enlist until he's shot and while healing discovers that his Father has had a stroke and goes home to see him...
There's this scene that made me cry in the theater, where he reads a letter to his Dad that he wrote...
In the most poetic words, he tells his Dad that when he was shot, his first thought took him back to when he was a little boy and these coins that he and his Dad collected together.. He goes on to tell his Dad that he is a coin in the U.S. Army and describes himself in this way that just grips a hold of your heart and then he tells his Dad through the words in his letter that his Dad was the last thought he had... "It was you.." he said and the tears just fell and fell for me then as his Dad held onto his Son's hand and you knew that they loved each other so much.
His Dad passes away after that and that devastated me too... John goes to see Savannah after the funeral... Only to discover the truth behind her Dear John letter... She is also broke and has no money to bring Tim home from the hospital to spend his last days with his son.. So, after John says goodbye to her... he does the most amazing and selfless, beautiful thing ever. He sells his Dad's coin collection, while keeping the most sentimental coin that he and his Dad shared and gives all of the money in an anonymous donation to bring Tim home so that he can spend his last days with his son and be cared for at home. He had been close to Tim and his son Alan and even though he felt betrayed that the love of his life married Tim... He gave Tim and his son the gift of time.
True, it may not have been the epic romance that I thought it would be... but it was far more and I haven't stopped thinking of the film since. If a film lingers in your mind the way this one has for me, you know it will stay with you always.