One Day

When this movie came out in August, I would have liked to had been able to go see it.  I don't know if it was the British accents, Anne Hathaway, or the song "Good Life" from the previews, but for some reason this romantic movie actually appealed to me. However, the timing was bad.  August was a tough month.  It held both my husband's birthday and our anniversary and it seemed best to wait for a better time to watch a movie from the genre of romance.

This past month, while shopping at Barnes and Noble for Christmas presents, I came across the book, One Day by David Nicholls, and I purchased it.  This little purchase actually represented two feats for me.  The first one being that I regained the mentality to relax.  I felt as though I could redirect my thoughts during those quiet times and focus enough to read and for pleasure.  (That may not sound like much, but for anyone who has lost a loved one, I am sure you can identify with thoughts that wander and the difficulty in containing them.)  The second one being able to intentionally choose to invite a bit of romance back into my life.

((Spoiler Alert))
I just finished reading the book.  I am happy to say that I was in fact able to focus and the romance wasn't too much to take in. It was in many ways a very realistic portrayal of love and relationships.  In fact, it was a bit too realistic for me.  The ending was one that I just did not see coming and it hit home and it hit pretty hard.

If you have not read the book or have not seen the movie, it is one where you want the two main characters to end up together because that is when they are at their best. That is when they are truly happy.  After years and years, they finally do realize this. They marry.  They are happy.  She dies.

I recently posted "Carpe Diem," my views on living one day at time.  So much can happen in one day. In my own life, I can think back to specific events/days that have changed my life, both good and bad. I can even think past the realm of myself, to events and specific days that will forever be remembered in history.  In my lifetime, it is 9/11 that holds that significance.   It is just one day, but a day that changed so many people's lives.  It changed so much of the world.

So as I sat deflated as to the ending of my once book of enjoyment ended, I realized that's life.  We don't know what each day will bring, how that one day will impact us. Perhaps it is that unknown which makes life so precious and gives us so much to hope and live for.