My friend, who is an amazing writer of two wonderful blogs, recently reviewed the movie Hope Springs in her blog, Movies, Popcorn, No Butter. It’s a great review. And while she nailed my feelings about the film exactly, she brought up a line from the movie that struck her. A line I completely missed in the midst of my being strangely uncomfortable while watching the film. (I have never been to a movie before where the pall of honesty hung over the entire theater and you could feel that everyone there was feeling slightly exposed.) The line she cites is:
“What are you going to do with your one and only life?”
She didn’t even remember who said it and I don’t even think I heard it, so I’m glad she pointed it out. It’s a huge line. It’s a huge question. A “life” is a long, long time. I was especially impressed with her answer to this huge, huge, question. She said:
“Watching this movie, I felt for the first time, it is not what one needs to strive for. It is more important to get it right with another human being; to really go through ups and downs and years of interaction might be the best thing you can do with your one and only life.” ~ Movies, Popcorn, No Butter
Her answer hit me harder than the line from the movie. It’s not about our careers or how much money we manage to make. Those things change as we journey through the decades. It’s who and how we journey with that matters the most. When I picture myself on my death bed, it’s my husband and my children that I see around me as I say my final goodbye to this earth. Not my house. Not my beach. Not my books I hope to have written before that time. Not my teaching career of many years. Not my car. Not my bank account. No. On that final day, when I take my final breath, the only thing that will matter are those that I’ve had “the ups and downs and years of interaction” with. The people I “got it right with” for decades. I’ve known my husband for 50 years (I met him when I was 9), my one daughter for 31 years, and my other daughter for 27 years. Still, through all the “ups and downs” and “interaction” throughout those decades, we remain close and loving and on the up and up with each other. We know unconditional love.
I do agree with my friend that in today’s world, that is a huge accomplishment and a very good thing to do with one’s “one and only” life.
And so, as another day goes by, check out the blogs Movies, Popcorn, No Butter and Freesia Lane, both written by my friend Christine, who keeps me thinking and moves me a bit more forward every time we’re together, and….I have written.
moviespopcornnobutter.com
freesialane.com
It’s later than we think, and every word in today’s blog is TRUTH Linda.
Joan
Linda, Thanks for the plug on my blogs. Read yours, as you know, daily…. isn’t it great?
Christine
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I do appreciate the quote, and have long appreciated it in another form, a poem by Mary Oliver (who lives in Provincetown):
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
I first saw this made into a beautiful graphic image on someone else’s blog.
The entire poem, “The Summer Day,” can be found at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html
Marilyn
I love this!!!