lessons from a movie

I saw a wonderful movie on a plane the other day--a movie that my son recommended: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. This movie was beautifully done but also reminded me of two lessons I already knew while also teaching me another.

Life is good if you have a supportive parent .(This one I knew.)
Walter had a mom who had his back. This is a fabulous way to go through life. (In that exercise of dividing people into two types, I often divide life by those who have this and those who don't.) It's not essential, but it surely helps.

My parents did not "have my back." (This was not altogether unusual in the 50's, a time I think of as cruel to children. This was certainly not everyone's experience, but it was mine.)  But I have learned that if you didn't have it, you can do your best to become it. That's a lesson I am most happy to have learned. And that's pretty cool.

If you do what you love, and do it well, life is good. (This one I knew.)
Not all of us get to "do what we love" for a living. And those who do are not always able to make a good living. But as we age, I think we learn to measure success differently. And finding a way to do what we love in the best way possible makes a life we can look back on with pride.

The beauty of travel is in doing ordinary things in extraordinary places. (This one I did not know.)
I think I, like everyone, go a little nuts when I travel--trying to do extraordinary things in the extraordinary places I are lucky to visit. But watching Walter play soccer in the Himalayas made me think of travel differently. How wonderful to watch him do this simple thing in that extraordinary place!

In this vein, I am reminded that when I do knitting cruises (which I usually do once a year and which I highly recommend), I land at a port and . . . look for a yarn shop! Why have I often felt a little guilty about this??? As if there was something extraordinary I should be doing instead? What could be more special than shopping for yarn?! And what joy it brings--to me, to the shop owners, to the others on the cruise when we share our purchases . . plus ever afterwards when I remember "I bought this yarn in the Shetland Islands!"

In future, I will put less pressure on myself when I travel--less pressure to do anything else but just walk down a street, smell the trees, have a coffee in a sidewalk cafe . . and buy yarn!