Making Friends In Elizabethtown in Ultimate Randomness

So I ought to get right out there and say it: this isn’t actually about making friends. Besides, if you have followed anything I have said through this last year and a half, almost, you probably realize that I do things a little differently. And Lord knows, I love a good movie intersection within my own life. That movie today being Elizabethtown. I’ll give a little plot synopsis in case you haven’t seen the movie. A young shoe designer named Drew (Orlando Bloom) spectacularly fails his job, losing his company billions, and shortly thereafter, is informed that his dad has died. As a result, he is tasked by his family to travel to his father’s hometown of Elizabethtown, Kentucky to deal with his funeral. On the flight back, he meets a flight attendent named Claire (Kirsten Dunst) and the two hit it off. The movie follows Drew as he simultaneously learns about this other side of his father that he never knew and develops a relationship with Claire. And while Drew learns that sometimes it is ok to fail, that sometimes failing spectacularly teaches you more about yourself than success, he also develops an easy friendship with Claire, which increases in intensity as the movie goes on. I won’t spoil the movie with specifics, but feel free to watch. It isn’t anything groundbreaking, but I have a soft spot for romantic comedies. A large part of the movie is also about learning to let go of everything and learn to let your spirit fly and be free. It’s something I am trying to learn how to do myself. I mean, I have spectacularly failed in my life. School? Tried three times and failed twice. Three semesters short of graduating. And as I sit here, I wonder if I will ever find that desire to finish or if it was always the drive to please people and do things the way they are “supposed to be done” that kept me going back. It’s something I think people only discover in hindsight. In my case, I haven’t moved on to that next step in my life to obtain the hindsight yet. I am still in a holding pattern around this part of my life. The part that included my marriage and home and school and pets and all of this. It is an insanely difficult thing to just leave. Yet, I think a part of me knows that leaving is something that will become necessary. I am not one for small gestures. When I make changes, they are usually quite grand and sudden and violent. Moving down here was the last one. Sure, I knew it was something I planned a year ahead of time, but even then, it was something I did with almost no security in place. It was a drastic leap and, for a time, it was a success. Another thing we learn in hindsight I guess. But like most changes, that one involved a woman. Seems most of the biggest motivators in my life have been women. It is like my own personal catalyst. So why not try something like eHarmony or something like that? I don’t know. Part of it, I think, is that I would hardly seem like a catch. Thirtysomething, overweight, underpaid and living with my ex. Not exactly great bait, no matter what kind of a person I am. And yet, I think that is just a veneer. When it comes right down to it, I almost feel like I am supposed to do things differently. A chance meeting or something. Kinda like Drew and Claire. It becomes a question of faith. Do I really believe it? I want to. I want to believe that my life is waiting for me out there somewhere. I just wish I knew how to find it sometimes. I guess all I can do is keep searching and hope I recognize the path when I see it.