500 Days of Summer

What a delightful film! My passengers and flight mates alike raved about how much they enjoyed it. Even a pilot from another airline pass-riding on my flight back from Europe expressed how wonderful it was. I looked at him in disbelief, as I caught silent glimpses of it, while serving coffee, orange juice and cocktails. How could a guy enjoy a 'chick-flick'? Hmmm....maybe it wasn't a 'chick-flick'; now I was even more intrigued to see it! I must admit I'd had a MASSIVE crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt when I was a small girl, I don't know exactly what it was about him, but I think it must have been his gentle eyes. Eyes usually are my first attraction. They say it's the window to the soul. :) I thought it'd be nice to see it, since I hadn't seen Joseph acting for a while.

The pilot was quite an egotistical fellow, rambling about how perfect his girlfriend was. He was about 40, tall, dark hair, and showed one of my flightmate's and I, a gazillion photos and video on his I Phone of his girlfriend. She looked about 23, from Eastern Europe, blonde, petit, and bubbly. Her aim was to move to New York, sad but true, he didn't seem to realize it yet, but he was her ticket there. He spoke wildly about how in love they were and that their love was just like the 500 Days of Summer. He said he'd be with her and other men would approach her all the time. He loved that! Strange I thought, but as narcissitic as he was, I understood clearly his exceeding pleasure.

So here I am, 3 months later, in the comfort of my cold box of a room, I bundle with my numerous blankets and pop the film into my laptop DVD player. Did they write this movie for me? Goodness! The similarities were uncanny! I suppose many people could say they've been in similar situations. But why did the names match, the situations, and the outcomes, all the same in my life? Sheesh! :( Yes; I cried alright. Tom didn't deserve that, I didn't deserve that. Joseph's character was rather lovely. Sweet Thomas; you are the winter stagecoach that journeys on the icy depths of my withering heart. Dear Tom, I would love you in my life. You could be the architect of my happiness; you just have to give me a chance; get to know me a bit better. We can be great friends, I guarantee it! And maybe even something more! :) There were many moments in the film that were heart-wrenching for me, because I'd been in similar agonizing instances; but it wasn't till the very end of the film that my salty tears met my onion breath. Yes, the past few days, I'd racked up my 'bad diet' points by ingesting bars of chocolate and greasy cheese-burgers with extra onions. It's Valentine's Day in 2 days, what can I say, my Volkswagen dealership is the only one that sends me Valentine's Day cards! Happy Single Awareness and bring on the damn chocolate! Milk chocolate please! :)

I found the story line to be extremely irresitable, delicate and sweet. I appreciated how they used art and drawing simultaneously throughout, with the little blue bird that was perched on Tom's finger. When Tom walked out onto the street, and his world crumbled into a pencil drawing and then disappearing altogether, by being erased and dull, just like a drawing on a paper that's been erased too many times. Perhaps signifying the amount of times you're let down in love. I enjoyed the simplicity of the film, and that it wasn't your typical love-story; or typical story at all for that matter. That a woman (his mother) found love at 49, and his sister no older than about 12, knew more about philosophy and Nietchze than most adults would ever care to know about. Life doesn't make much sense...

Or does it?

The more one tries to figure things out, the fewer things seem to make sense. The world is fast-paced and de-sensitized, people talk fast, think fast and no longer have time to read or smell the roses or far less stop to smell the pages of books. They lock their elderly in homes because they have no time for them, and their children fend for themselves and are exposed to everything adults are, making them callous and sharp like thorns. And Love. Love is a word people misuse and abuse tremendously, because no one truly knows the meaning of love anymore.

I began to grasp that it didn't matter what age you were in this world. We were all on a journey, taking different paths, and having different experiences to learn different lessons. We are ever-changing; we are constantly evolving into different facets of ourselves. So yes, an 18 or 21 year old could say they know what love is all about. It could happen in a week, a month, or a day. But I wonder sometimes; how can you trust your heart, if for some it's the first time they're using it? I realize now looking back, that when I was first in love, I was only giving my heart a test-drive. I turned it on, got the blood pumping and churning right, but I still needed more fuel, the right fuel. The right fuel; true love I suppose. My heart knew what love was, but was it the right oil/fuel for my heart, for me? I'd have to try many others to see what love felt like, to see what true love is.

And by that last sentence, I suppose it's alright to say, Life does make sense, and is very fair. Created in such exquisiteness and flawlessness. So what if it hurt? What if you don't understand it? We humans love to learn in error; we destroy everything to build it up again, but I fear, maybe one day, it'll be a little too late ....

So my sister says to call him; but I can't bring myself to do it; at least not yet. What have I got to lose you say? Well, nothing I suppose, I quite relish heart-ache! Heart-ache and onion breath! Mmmm...the perfect combination! And that of course, I tell an enormous fib; but suppose Tom is indeed right? Suppose it just happens, and it just hits you. Love happens and he finally picks up the phone and calls me.... :)