I love the arts. I’ve been engaged with our local film festival for years. I would buy a pass and attend the shows, while my oldest was the event photographer. I was always inspired by watching the under-the-radar selection of movies that might not always make it to the coast-to-coast big screen.
This weekend I watched Nine Days. Really made you think. A character named Will was interviewing people (souls) over nine days. Each soul was vying for the opportunity to become alive in someone’s body born on earth. When not interviewing, Will watched the souls he had sent to earth previously on TVs showing them living all of life’s moments, big and small. He was torn by one storyline that ended badly and then an interview candidate named Emma challenged Will to face his own demons too.
It really made you think about all the little scenes we take for granted in our own lives. The snippets the candidates wrote about longingly as they watched those living on earth, hoping they too might get to feel those emotions one day.
There are flashbulb moments like graduating, moving into your own place, becoming a parent, or getting your first job. But there are also moments like feeling the sand on your feet or the wind in your hair, the taste of your favourite food or the way your heart beats when you see an old friend or someone you love.
Do we take the time to relish how a fresh peach tastes, how a good book reminds us of what’s important, how a deep breath resets our mindset? Are we rushing from big moment to big moment and missing the little things that make it all worthwhile?
As author Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
How are we spending our days? Are we just hanging on until we make it? Or are we inhaling the good, the bad and the messy and embracing the idea that the journey is in fact the destination?