The sun came out this afternoon. It drew me out to the porch, where I scratched puppy dogs' ears, admired the blue sky peeking through the oak tree branches, marveled at the greenness around me and at how quickly things had sprouted in our little front yard.
I spend most of my day inside, in front of a computer. Some days my brain feels like it's in its own little drought - but give me a porch swing, sunshine and fresh air, and I can feel little sprouts of thoughts popping up in my head...
"The privilege of a lifetime is to be yourself." (Joseph Campbell)
I've been thinking about this one for awhile. It sounds so simple, and yet, if you toss it around a few times, you see it's a bit more complicated than you first thought. What does it mean to be yourself? Don't we spend a lifetime trying to figure that out?
That reminded me of "Shirley Valentine", a movie Tom and I watched this weekend....my sister Brenda and I don't think alike about everything, but most things we do, so I should have known I'd love the movies she recommended and loaned to me almost a year ago. In my defense, I couldn't get anyone to watch them with me until now, and I had forgotten about them. Tom is the one that pulled Shirley off the shelf this past weekend. It's a perfect movie for me to watch right now, about a woman peeling back layers of life that have accumulated over the years and happily discovering she's still in there. It's funny, sensitive, and surprising.
Brenda had to remind me about "Cinema Paradiso" - oh, I hate that I went so long without seeing this one! It's in Italian, but within minutes, I didn't even notice the subtitles. It's about friendship, how it can pop up in the weirdest places, support you for a lifetime, and inspire you to be yourself. One minute I was laughing and the next I was reaching past Tom for a Kleenex.
Speaking of friendship, we spent Sunday afternoon with our gang of my ex-high school classmates, and even some of their kids in their twenties joined us (not mine, though.) We sang Happy Birthday to Darla's daughter, and to another friend that was celebrating in Houston, but that's not why we got together. It's that friendship thing. They are part of what makes me "me", and I've neglected that part long enough. Life is short.
Patrick Swayze. Although it wasn't unexpected, it makes me sad knowing he's gone. Graceful, macho, sensitive, sexy, talented...
I bet, by the end, he understood what Joseph Campbell meant...
"The privilege of a lifetime is to be yourself."
