Thursday, February 24, 2011

Aaaaand...end scene.

I'm having one of those final scene movie days. One movie in particular: Prime. (warning, I have tweaked the ending to suit my situation...it is not completely accurate!) With Rachel yamagata playing in the background, we pan onto to a scene in a small, cozily lit manhattan restaurant. At long table, we see a man (tweaking slightly for gender respect), surrounded by friends. As the camera pans out, we realize we are viewing this scene through the eyes of our brave heroine. Once upon a time, these two people, now Newly strangers in the city of 8 million stories, were madly in love. You can't really remember what happened or why they aren't together anymore, but it is clear both have moved on. Despite the slow, sappy music playing and the major mood lighting, the scene isn't particularly sad. In fact, it's actually quite hopeful. You see the woman's face, and you know the entire tale that brought her to that moment. She once loved this man, so much she thought it was forever, but chose to move on because of a whole bunch of reasons that may or may not even matter. Even though a dark street without wine and friends may seem like the sadder version, she actually embraces the road less traveled. She had made a difficult decision: to dare that something better was out there for her. So with her sad and hopeful music, she sets off alone, to her world where anything is possible. And while there may always be a longing to be on the other side of the wall, (the one with the wine and friends) it's not enough to compromise the possibility of living to the fullest...whatever that decision may mean. 

We all have choices. Every choice we make and have made, has brought every single one of us exactly where we are, this moment. (for me its people watching at the Starbucks on lex and 77th). Choices can be easy or they can be difficult. My choices, as of late, have proven to be the latter. But like my heroine in my final scene movie, I'm daring to discover what life holds for me when I decide to just jump off. A part of me wants to be inside the restaurant, safe and unchanging, but the bigger part of me wants to discover what the rest of the world (physically, spiritually, emotionally and hypothetically speaking) outside has to offer. So even though there is sad music playing, my scene is actually hopeful. So yeah...I'm having one of those final scene movie days...remember there is life after the credits.