Thursday, May 20, 2010

Some Kind of Wonderful

i watched movies all the time in the hospital. they served as a distraction, an escape from the horrid reality, and they made me happy, well, most of the time... so one day, i was watching the movie sex and the city 1, and at the end when (spoiler alert) big proposes to carrie with the pretty manolos in that gorgeous, giant closet, i started sobbing. but i wasnt crying like i normally do with sappy movies, i was literally sobbing. carrie finally had her happy ending, and i wanted mine. it was/is so incredibly unfair. i think becoming paralyzed in any way is the worst fate imaginable. i completely lost the life i once had. taking away something someone had that was essential to every part of their life is brutal. there is nothing happy about it and no real ending. now if i had been unable to use my legs from birth, i wouldnt know what it feels like to run past the duke chapel or feel the thrill of dancing on stage, so i couldnt miss it. you couldnt take a life away from me that i never had. but i did have a hell of a life. now i cant even go to school or see my friends much. and there is definitely no running or dancing. some might say being diagnosed with a terminal illness is worse. while it definitely is hard, at least there is an ending. this is like a never ending struggle where you are cursed to remember eveyday the life you once had. Dante once said, "There is no greater woe than in misery to remember the happy time." So memories can sometimes lift you up, while other times they bring you down. But just when you think your life is doomed, happy things can surprise you. I want to leave you all with a story that was really powerful for me. Its the best kind of story, it's a love story. It's about a love that is unbreakable, like Devdas and Paro, brave like Romeo and Juliet, and happy like Big and Carrie. Okay, so once upon a time, there was a boy and a girl. They met in high school, and started dating. They dated for about a year, but things didn't work out, so they broke up. Then about a year later, he had a terrible accident. He broke his neck, and was paralyzed from the neck down. He was in and out of the hospital for seven years and had undergone many surgeries. He remains paralyzed, but has some use of his arms. About 2 years ago, after the boy and girl hadn't seen each other in 8 years, they saw each other at a bar. They started talking and now 2 years later, they are madly in love and on the way to a happy marriage. They realized they were soulmates. I have never met them, but I'm sure they are both incredible people, brave enough to embrace their love, strong enough to hold on to their love, and smart enough to see what fate had in store for them. I realized that happy things, no, wonderful things can happen to people who have had bad strokes or streaks of luck.

3 comments:

  1. "...brave enough to embrace their love, strong enough to hold on to their love..."
    To my braveheart, the one who reminds me what I deserve everyday - thank you.

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  2. what a beautiful story. i love you flops!

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  3. "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
    - Gandhi

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