Don't Give up on the Train

It’s Christmas time and that means decorations, presents under the tree, homemade goodies, ice skating in the city, cold winds and warm fires but in my house it also means one more thing: cheesy Christmas movies on TV. And thanks to the invention of Tivo and such channels such as ABC Family, Lifetime and Hallmark, we have enough taped to fill every second of the season with heart warming, made for TV moments.
I make fun of them, grumble and roll my eyes every time I walk into the living room but the truth is (and you have to promise to keep this a secret from my mom) I actually like the cheesiness. And to be completely honest, every once in a while some of the movies take the typical plot line and surprise you with a pretty good story.
That being said I watched one of these ‘gems in the rough’ yesterday about a little boy who thought it was pointless to wish for something as big as a toy train under the Christmas tree. The wise reply he received after sharing his woes film was this: “if you don’t have dreams they can’t come true.”
I don’t know why but that one sentence keeps playing through my mind as if my brain and not just my TV were Tivod. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind.
And the more the phrase runs through my mind the more I wonder about the dreams we stop believing in, trains we put out of our mind: a job, a spouse, a family, a business, finally seeing the world, whatever it may be, because it would be too disappointing not to see them under the tree.
The point, I suppose, is this: in the spirit of Christmas and in hope of a better year than last, dream again. You should know the little boy in the movie got his train. And although I know that life doesn’t have quite so many happy endings as Hallmark movies sometimes good things do happen to those who believe.

Who Knows

I’ve been thinking about the meaning of life a lot in recent days. I don’t know why but lately I can’t shake the thought that it’s all meaningless, our existence that is. We live and then die. There’s work, heartache and all those other things like love and happiness but it all ends with a box in the ground or ashes in a jar on the fireplace of someone else who will ultimately face the same end.
I know these are morbid thoughts but as they (whoever ‘they’ are) say, “misery loves company,” and these thoughts are indeed making me miserable. They’ve become leeches to my brain and I’m beginning to think to my soul as well, slowly sucking away my life, burying me alive.
I think it’s only fair to mention that I’m a Christian. We’re supposed to have the meaning of life all figured out but sometimes cookie-cut answers don’t solve the hunger of the soul to know.
I wish I had something profound to conclude with, a surprising twist in the story where I finally have all the answers. The heroine back from her journey ready to enrich the lives of others with all the knowledge she’s obtained. But I don’t.
The only conclusion I have is this: whether it’s pointless or not, life is a gift we’ve all been given. Don’t be afraid to enjoy it because in the end even if it is just the figment of some greater being’s imagination, right now it’s real. Right now you can feel and touch and you are free from the confines of a cedar box or ceramic vase. Free to live and breathe, free to laugh and love and free to make someone else’s breath meaningful if even just for a moment.

An Analogy on Love

I’m sitting here trying to come up with something to write about and yet I can’t help but think of anything other than the man that I’m falling in love with. That may be because of the sappy music playing on my laptop or the dozen red roses sitting on the table next to me. Roses that were sent just because he felt bad he couldn’t be here when I was sick. Mind you I’m not in the hospital; I don’t even have a fever, just the sniffles and a cough.
I just can’t believe that I’m this blessed. I’ve dreamed of love for so long but was so sure that by the time I found it, it would be ridiculously disappointing; like waiting for a movie for months, buying tickets for the midnight showing and then at 2 o’clock in the morning kicking yourself because you could have been in bed instead of wasting your time watching crappy acting and a predictable plot. But there is no more anticipating love, I’m in it. I’m in the theater. I’m completely invested (I mean large popcorn, soda, and a bag of Skittles) and the best thing is, it’s better than I could have ever imagined. No preview could have done this justice. There have been a few disappointing scenes but for the most part I’ve been on the edge of my seat. Excitement and terror exist within me simultaneously as we work our way to the final credits, which I hope won’t run until my last breath escapes me.