Grease is my favorite movie. It was my favorite movie when I five, and it is my favorite movie at 45. It is like home to me. I watch it when I am in a good mood to celebrate, and I watch it when I am in a bad mood to comfort me. I not only know every word to every song on the soundtrack, but I know every word to every line in the movie. I still have my original Grease record from 1978 – it still plays but a bit worn out from playing it so much over my lifetime. I still have my original Grease t shirt, poster and cards from 1978.

I saw Grease in the movie theater when it opened in 1978 when I was five years old, then taped it on Beta from tv and watched it over and over again growing up, then bought the VHS tape and watched it over and over, saw it in the movie theater four times in 1998 on its 20th Anniversary, bought the dvd and watched it over and over, downloaded it to my phone and kindle and stream it on my amazon fire stick and saw it in the movie theater four times last month on its 40th Anniversary (in the same theater I saw it in 1998).

My Grease Week, 40th Anniversary, began on Sunday April 8th and ran through Saturday April 14th. It had five showings, but I could only go to four since I had to work that Wednesday afternoon showing. I went to both showings on Sunday (at 2pm and 7pm), going home in between and watched Grease2 while eating a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake inspired by the Frosty Palace. I went to the showing Wednesday night and the final showing Saturday afternoon. At all showings, they had Grease trivia on the screen prior and an intro and outro by Ben Mankiewicz from TCM. At all showings I wore my new Grease shirt, said every line out loud and did the moves to “Greased Lightning.” The almost two hour movie feels like fifteen minutes. It just started and it is about to end already – time just flies by when I am watching Grease. As happy as I was watching it, I was almost just as sad remembering my lost youth and years gone by because my entire life is wrapped up in that movie.