Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Filling the bucket

I’ve had some great opportunities to fill my artistic and emotional bucket lately. Here are a few:

1. Hubby and I took advantage of the consolation prize we got after complaining to the Anniversary Inn about our horrible experience there last time (which was another free night there). This one was much better—partially because we chose a room in the basement hoping to decrease the chance of noise from drunk neighbors and partially because we brought earplugs! But my favorite part of the outing was a long walk we took past the houses in the avenues. I love to walk at dusk when people’s lights are on but they haven’t pulled the drapes yet (yes, I’ve told you before that I’m a peeping tom) and I love to imagine what it would be like to live in one of those tall old houses in the avenues. R is happy to let me walk around and fantasize in the hopes that my fantasies will satisfy me enough and I’ll never ask to actually buy a house there. (We would be horrible owners of an old house since we don’t know how to do anything as far as repairs go.) I can’t figure out why these tall old houses fascinate me so—maybe it’s because my favorite cousins lived in one when I was growing up, and it was the location of many happy hidde-and-seek games with it’s tall closets and back stairway and (best of all) inset bookshelves and huge porch. Anyway, I couldn’t keep from grinning as we walked around buying all the houses we passed. I was just so happy to be alive, and healthy enough to take a walk with my love.

2. Last night we saw Prince Caspian (finally at the dollar theater). C. S. Lewis always does it to me. My favorite scene was when Susan and Peter took a walk with Aslan. Lewis doesn’t let us into that scene (nor did the filmmakers let us hear what Aslan said to them), but we hear afterward that Aslan was explaining why Susan and Peter won’t be able to come back to Narnia. Peter says to Edmund and Lucy later, “It’s not like how I thought it would be. But it’s alright.” I like to imagine that walk, like to imagine the Lord talking to me, telling me I’m headed for something hard (like, oh, say, being sick for a while) but that He will be there with me, and it won’t be like I thought it would but I’ll be alright.



3. Just saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on dvd and feel like my soul had been dethatched. Rent it if you can, or check it out of the library as I did (it’s in French). It’s everything that art should be. Oh, and it’s a true story. I’d read the book, but the movie is better. The movie is more artistic and therefore more true. You know what I mean, don’t you?

What have you seen lately that has filled you?

1 comment:

jenlinmin said...

I remember when we read "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" for book group and what a groundbreaking discussion we had afterward. I also could not figure out how they could turn the book into a cohesive film as it is a collection of vignettes, if I remember correctly. Thank you for seeing it and recommending it. That's what I needed to hear!