While watching the Academy Awards the other night, I listened to Tom Cruise and Billy Crystal relate how movies effect our personal lives. The stories that the movies weave have more impact on us than we care to acknowledge. They make us dream, they make us try, they make us who we are. The better the storyline, the better the movie. Think about it; everyone of us is living their own personal movie. The comments made by these two actors spurned thoughts back two weeks to a conversation with my son, Ryan, as we enjoyed the Jacuzzi on a wintry, February night. I was lamenting to him about my shortcomings, the things I’ve done wrong, the indiscretions I’ve committed, but mostly the blundering mistakes I’ve offered up over the years. This mindset has been permeating my thinking since turning sixty earlier this month. And then he gave me a dose of my own medicine that I’ve been espousing to him for decades. Be sorry for the things that you’ve done rather than for those you haven’t. His youthful wisdom pervayed that each life is a movie. And again, the storyline is tantamount as to the quality of the movie. He said, “Dad, you have so many stories, far more than anyone I know. You’re mistakes and blunders have woven mini-novels that in retrospect we most often laugh about. Sure, you’ve done things that are embarrassing, wrong, and blundering. But those stories make you who you are.” He went on to share how rich he thought our lives were because of daring to be different, not caring about being normal, and seeking the bizzarre to constantly entertain. His words sank deep. I logged them into my memory bank. And then again this week, listening to Crystal and Cruise, I saw how true his thoughts rang. My life has been a horizontal pursuit from one area of interest to another. I realize now that the lamentation is due to being in one place far too long. This economy, the price of diesel, my own financial shortcomings have led me to just one venue this winter. I’ts time to move on. My genes are in angst, yearning to wander. Time to make more stories and create another movie.
