(500) Days of

What is it that compels one being to another? A magnetic force so strong it can eventually strip one of one's armour. Something so overwhelmingly potent it causes one to want to expose our vulnerable self to another, in the hope of a mutual reciprocation. Is it the warm feeling it delivers? Feeling wanted? The ability to quench our desire to be desired? What should I know? It is but defined differently, person to person. I am merely a spectator of this thing they call 'love'.

Oh, I have been a casualty, I've encountered with this force... Dropping everything at the sound of his voice. Finding a smile creep across my face and a phantom sun, warming me when he dances across my mind. A girl already content with her life, or so she thought, seemed mistaken... as it would seem that she'd found solace, in something so simple -an embrace, fingers intertwined with his- to trigger emotions complex, meanwhile transforming the most complex of life's trials and tribulations become irrelevent, insignificant even.

On Monday night I watched for the second time, (500) Days of Summer. It starts like this:

 This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met 'The One'. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only loved two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

A movie montage that flips back and forth through the offbeat relationship between Summer and Tom...

He felt a lot more toward her than she, him...and she knew it. With this knowledge, many of my friends believe it was rather unfair of her to continue in the relationship...led him on, even.

But Summer made it clear from the start, that she wasn't after a long term relationship, and that she simply liked him. She was honest...with him.

  "Summer, what are we doing? ..What are we?"

  "Oh.. I don't know. I'm happy, aren't you happy?"
  "Yeah, I'm happy."
  "Well.. good!"

Someone from work once told me, "If he likes her, and she likes him, and they enjoy each others company, they should just be together, why complicate things, you know? If it works out, it works out, if not then at least they had fun. We're still young."

Is it taken too seriously? Or do we all dream of one day finding The One?

When enquiring about her past relationships, Tom asks Summer,

"What happened? Why didn't they work out?
"What always happens...Life."

And she's right, right? There can only be so much time devoted to mourning the loss of a loved one.. of course we'll always remember them with a smile, and their memory forever linger, tucked away into the folds of our heart, whether we like it or not. Nonetheless, life continues and we must keep flowing with it. With a head down, gaze low, heart heavy...who knows what opportunities could be missed? Fate. Chance. Destiny. The Universe has something in store for each of us, if only we keep our eyes o p e n. (:

 For instance, how Summer met her husband,

"Well, you know, I guess it's 'cause I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Gray and a guy comes up to me and asks me about it and... now he's my husband."  
 "Yeah. And... so?"
"So, what if I'd gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there 10 minutes later? It was - it was meant to be..."

An eternal optimist, I believe that good can be found in every 'bad' situation.

 For example in the movie, even though Summer left Tom, she helped him to realise his passion and pursue his dream to become an architect. He quits his job as a card designer and soon enough, applies at an architecture firm. Consequently this leads to his encounter with a female rival applicant for the same position.

Somewhere after an acknowlegement of each others' presence and a brief exchange of chatter, she says,

"Have I seen you before?"
 "Me? I don't think so."
"Do you ever go to Angela's Plaza?"
  "Yes... That's like my favourite spot in the city."
"Yeah, except for the parking lots."
  “Yeah, yeah I agree."
“Yeah, yeah I think I've seen you there."
 "Really?"
“Yeah..."
  "I haven't seen you?"
"You must not have been looking..."
  “...”

Her name, Autumn initially seemed cliche and corny to me. However now, in hindsight, it seems fitting, and somewhat implies that Love is seasonal, that there's a time and place for everything.
And may also have a knack of showing up when you least expect it.

 In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter and strife, i.n 525,600 minutes, how do you measure a year in the life? How about love? 
 -Seasons of love, from Rent the Musical

Just a midnight musing...
Miriam <3