One difference between men and women: Everyday little activities are mini-adventures that carry a lot of weight in the hearts of women; women count every moment as an adventure. Men on the other hand look for grand activities like a big trip into the wild to consider it an adventure of a lifetime.
The movie released earlier this year, Up, portrayed the above statement amongst its other themes.
Watching its theatrical trailer way before its release, Eli and I were very keen to watch Up. It looked funny! Unfortunately somehow or other, we stopped catching movies, and it wasn’t up to recent weeks that we sat down to finish a movie.
The movie was more than funny. It was heart-warming and relayed such a meaningful reflection of unfortunate society.
Carl meets his fellow avid adventurer Ellie (who I had thought was a dude) in a deserted house which Ellie had converted into her imaginary plane. She calls it the “Spirit of Adventure” after the plane of a famous adventurer whom both Ellie and Carl admired. They fell in love and married, fixed up the dilapidated house and built a home for themselves. Sadly, babies were not going to happen for this loving couple. Hence, they decided to fulfill Ellie’s childhood dream of visiting South America and building her house upon Paradise Falls. They started a fund where they would drop in whatever money they had. At the rate they were saving, they should have made it to Paradise Falls and built a mansion! Yet, time and time again, they had a reason and a need to break into the Paradise Falls fund. As their heads turned a full white, Carl realised they couldn’t wait much longer. He bought two tickets to Venezuela. But just as he is about to present them to his wife in a romantic picnic up a hill, Ellie takes ill and eventually dies. Carl is left with nothing but Ellie’s “My Adventure Book” in which she showed him briefly when they were children. A map of South America and a picture of Paradise Falls, complete with a picture of her house on it. The last page Carl saw was one that Ellie had written, “Things I’m going to do” (or something like that).
Eli and I cried after watching this movie. Eli says since the day we met, he has always feared the day my life would come to an end. I told him that as much as I don’t want to live without him so I need him to outlive me, I don’t want him to have to mourn for me. I don’t want him sad and lonely. (But I refuse to let him remarry!) We don’t want to let each day go by in routine – work, eat, sleep. We want to sail around the world and enjoy life in all its glory. We want the opportunity to sit in Central Park and carve our initials everywhere. We want to ride the train and mime to each other. We want to show each other off.
As I watched Carl’s crestfallen face, as if he had let his wife down, I wanted him to turn the page so badly! I was convinced that his wife would have filled the book with the adventure of life she has had since she met the love of her life. But of course he doesn’t turn the page. He turned his house into a floating house instead and floated his way to Paradise Falls where he gets his manly adventure.
He does eventually flip the page to see that his wife has had her adventure of a lifetime with him, and she had signed off asking him to go have his adventure.
Cliché as it is, you never know if tomorrow will ever come. Yet there is always so much to do today. My parents used to tell me, “work hard today and enjoy tomorrow” to motivate me to study hard so that I may get a good job and lead a comfortable life. We are told to both “save for a rainy day” and to “live today like it’s your last day”. The balance between the two is to work hard today and play hard today. To enjoy life and not be stingy to the point of depriving yourself of any pleasure.
I am not in the best financial situation and I definitely spend more than I should on things I want not need. However, as I mature, I am more careful with my spending. Firstly because I know how hard it is to make money and how easy money disappears. Secondly, there is an ongoing need for money. I was making good money working fulltime and was spending it wherever I wanted. At the same time, I was sure to have the majority of the pay cheque in the bank. Fulltime income is now nonexistent but I am still happy and living life with calculated spending. A pretty luxurious life in all honesty.
Eli and I lead largely a routine life. Work, eat, sleep. Yet each day is an adventure in itself. We learn to appreciate each other more and more. We work together and sometimes that can be a great challenge because our business minds may differ. Sometimes we fight and it becomes personal. It is almost impossible to draw a line between work and personal when we fight about stuff related to work. However, we draw a clear line between time for work and time for us.
We treasure each day and every moment we are together, not just together physically but together as one.
Life is hard. Money is difficult to come by. Plans always have a way of falling through. Tomorrow is not within our control. Neither is income. Plans cannot always be counted on. We can only count on ourselves and making the best of every moment.
Treasuring each moment and seizing every opportunity to be happy let me sleep soundly regardless of unfortunate events in life.