I’m not usually a big crier at movies…but I have to say the first ten minutes of the Disney movie Up get me every time. It’s so sad that the main character Carl, (voiced by one of my favorite actors, Ed Asner) plans for years, decades, to go with his wife Ellie on the trip of their dreams after they experience a miscarriage and can’t have children. They save and save, never quite feeling like they have quite enough money but still plan to go “tomorrow”…and then that day never comes because Ellie passes away.
Wow. How many dreams do we let die because we say we’re going to get to them “tomorrow?” or “next month?” or “next year?” or “down the road.” We say we’ll do it when life gets easier, when we can afford to, when we have more time. And of course, like planning to have children when we’re ready, the time is never right and we’re never fully prepared and there’s never enough time or money and yet…we wouldn’t change having had those kids or taken that trip of a lifetime for the world.
I hear stories like these from people who never get around to starting or finishing their books. The books of their dreams…on their bucket lists…and that yearning to publish a book becomes an ache and then a resentment, a feeling of unfulfillment. But I know it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s why I do what I do for a living…helping writers achieve their happy endings. And of course we all love a happy ending, right? (By the way…movie spoiler alert!…the good news in the end is that Carl does go on that trip with a boy scout, a dog and a bird…and they get into all kinds of wacky situations which are actually funny at times.)
You’re never too young or too old and it’s never too late to fulfill your dreams.
Life is short…so get UP and go!
“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes…” (James 4:14)
